An approximate capacity distribution for MIMO systems

In this letter, we derive the exact variance of the capacity of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. This enables an investigation of the accuracy of a Gaussian approximation to the capacity foreshadowed by various central limit theorems. We confirm recent results which state that the capacity variance appears to converge to a limit independent of absolute antenna numbers, but dependent on the ratio of the numbers of receive to transmit antennas. The Gaussian approximation itself is surprisingly good, even in the worst cases giving satisfactory results.