A block memory model for correlated Rayleigh fading channels

Channels with memory offer higher capacities provided that the system design can take advantage of this memory. In this paper, we study and characterize the dynamics of a correlated Rayleigh fading channel with known phase. The model follows a continuous-time Markov double-chain for the random fading process with the Markov states corresponding to the quantized amplitude levels. The analytical expression for the distribution of the state dwell times is derived. We also calculate the mean dwell times of the Markov states in terms of the fading properties and the quantization level. Observations from simulating a typical land-mobile channel verify that the Markovian dynamics are best represented through a finer quantization of the lower level fading amplitudes