Feedback Capacity of the Continuous-Time ARMA(1,1) Gaussian Channel

We consider the continuous-time ARMA(1,1) Gaussian channel and derive its feedback capacity in closed form. More specifically, the channel is given by $\boldsymbol{y}(t) =\boldsymbol{x}(t) +\boldsymbol{z}(t)$, where the channel input $\{\boldsymbol{x}(t) \}$ satisfies average power constraint $P$ and the noise $\{\boldsymbol{z}(t)\}$ is a first-order {\em autoregressive moving average} (ARMA(1,1)) Gaussian process satisfying $$ \boldsymbol{z}^\prime(t)+κ\boldsymbol{z}(t)=(κ+λ)\boldsymbol{w}(t)+\boldsymbol{w}^\prime(t), $$ where $κ>0,~λ\in\mathbb{R}$ and $\{\boldsymbol{w}(t) \}$ is a white Gaussian process with unit double-sided spectral density. We show that the feedback capacity of this channel is equal to the unique positive root of the equation $$ P(x+κ)^2 = 2x(x+\vert κ+λ\vert)^2 $$ when $-2κ<λ<0$ and is equal to $P/2$ otherwise. Among many others, this result shows that, as opposed to a discrete-time additive Gaussian channel, feedback may not increase the capacity of a continuous-time additive Gaussian channel even if the noise process is colored. The formula enables us to conduct a thorough analysis of the effect of feedback on the capacity for such a channel. We characterize when the feedback capacity equals or doubles the non-feedback capacity; moreover, we disprove continuous-time analogues of the half-bit bound and Cover's $2P$ conjecture for discrete-time additive Gaussian channels.