Low SNR Capacity of Fading Channels -MIMO and Delay Spread

Discrete-time Rayleigh fading multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels are considered, with no channel state information at the transmitter and receiver. The fading is assumed to be correlated in time and independent from antenna to antenna. Peak and average transmit power constraints are imposed, either on the sum over antennas, or on each individual antenna. In both cases, an upper bound and an asymptotic lower bound, as the signal-to-noise ratio approaches zero, on the channel capacity are presented. The limit of normalized capacity is identified under the sum power constraints, and, for a subclass of channels, for individual power constraints. These results carry over to a SISO channel with delay spread (i.e. frequency selective fading).