A nonlinear system is considered where an aperiodic binary input signal is added to an arbitrarily distributed noise and compared to a fixed threshold to determine the binary output signal. Noise enhancement of the transmission of the aperiodic signal via stochastic resonance is demonstrated and studied in this nonlinear information channel. The characterization developed goes up to the calculation of the information capacity of the channel, defined as the maximal achievable input-output transinformation occurring when the statistics of the input signal is matched to the noise. It is then demonstrated that a regime exists where the information capacity of the channel can be increased by means of an increase of the noise, up to an optimal noise level where the capacity resonates at a maximum value. The influence on this resonance of the noise distribution is also studied.

• Received 30 September 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.55.2016