On selection of system bit-rate in the mobile multipath channel

A simple analytic model of the multipath fading channel is presented. For a given echo density and distance of communication, it is shown that as the system bit-rate is increased, the probability of unacceptable distortion will rapidly increase. As the bit-rate is reduced, flat fading will increase. In between these two cases there exists a bit-rate for which the mnltipath components can be exploited by an adaptive receiver to improve performance. The probability of this event is shown to have a maximum value for a particular bit-rate. It will also be shown how the maximum acceptable bit-rate depends on range, receiver complexity, and propagation characteristics.