On the study of the crossing statistics of phase processes in Rice mobile fading channels

In this paper, the crossing statistics of phase processes in the Rice fading channels are studied. Closed expressions are derived for the crossing rate of the phase process. Since the Rayleigh fading channel is a special case of the Rice fading channel where the line-of-sight component is disappeared, the derived expression can be verified by comparison with results for the Rayleigh fading channel. In addition, the analytical results are in excellently fitted with those obtained from computer simulations. The presented results are useful, for example, in studying the phase-locked-loop tracking technology when considering the transmission over the Rice fading channels.