Gallager's exponent for MIMO channels: a reliability-rate tradeoff

In this paper, we derive Gallager's random coding error exponent for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Rayleigh block-fading channels, assuming no channel-state information (CSI) at the transmitter and perfect CSI at the receiver. This measure gives insight into a fundamental tradeoff between the communication reliability and information rate of MIMO channels, enabling to determine the required codeword length to achieve a prescribed error probability at a given rate below the channel capacity. We quantify the effects of the number of antennas, channel coherence time, and spatial fading correlation on the MIMO exponent. In addition, the general formulae for the ergodic capacity and the cutoff rate in the presence of spatial correlation are deduced from the exponent expressions. These formulae are applicable to arbitrary structures of transmit and receive correlation, encompassing all the previously known results as special cases of our expressions.