Optimal Channel Switching and Randomization Over Flat-Fading Channels for Outage Capacity Maximization

In this letter, the optimal channel switching and randomization problem is formulated and its solution is characterized for flat-fading Gaussian noise channels with the aim of outage capacity maximization under average power and outage probability constraints. For the single user scenario, it is proved that the optimal solution can always be realized by performing one of the following strategies: (1) Transmission over a single channel with no randomization. (2) Channel switching between two channels with no randomization. (3) Randomization between two parameter sets over a single channel. Hence, the solution can easily be obtained by considering only these three strategies. However, for the multiuser scenario, obtaining the optimal solution can have very high computational complexity. Therefore, an algorithm is proposed to calculate an approximately optimal channel switching and randomization solution (with adjustable approximation accuracy) based on the solution of a linearly constrained linear optimization problem.