Poisson Noise Channel with Dark Current: Numerical Computation of the Optimal Input Distribution

Abstract: This paper considers a discrete time-Poisson noise channel which is used to model pulse-amplitude modulated optical communication with a direct-detection receiver. The goal of this paper is to obtain insights into the capacity and the structure of the capacity-achieving distribution for the channel under the amplitude constraint $\mathsf{A}$ and in the presence of dark current $\lambda$. Using recent theoretical progress on the structure of the capacity-achieving distribution, this paper develops a numerical algorithm, based on the gradient ascent and Blahut-Arimoto algorithms, for computing the capacity and the capacity-achieving distribution. The algorithm is used to perform extensive numerical simulations for various regimes of $\mathsf{A}$ and $\lambda$.