A Unified Carnot Thermodynamic and Shannon Channel Capacity Information-Theoretic Energy Efficiency Analysis

In this paper we employ the Shannon channel capacity theorem and classical thermodynamic Carnot's Law to derive the kT ln 2 minimum energy dissipation per bit for a communications channel. We then extend the analysis, incorporating forward error correction (FEC) to show an asymptotic energy efficiency approach to the Carnot/Shannon limit. For the first time, we derive a generalized version of the Shannon channel capacity theorem which embraces non-Gaussian noise statistics. Finally, we apply the theory to different telecommunications technologies, thus offering commonality of absolute energy efficiency assessment.