The maximum rate of data per string weight that can be Proof of Lemma 1: We define M [k] = N 1/wk [wk

] = N 1/wk [wk ] and

transmitted over a DNC is given by its capacity. We define write GA (y) as
capacity in accordance with [2] and [3] as follows. ∞
X
wk
Definition 3. The capacity C of a DNC A = (A, w) is given GA (y) = M [k]y . (7)
by k=1

ln N [wk ] We define the two sets D(y) and E(y) as

C = lim sup (4)
k→∞ wk  
D(y) = k ∈ NM [k]y < 1 (8)

in nats per symbol weight. This is equivalent to the following.

E(y) = N \ D(y) = k ∈ N M [k]y ≥ 1
 (9)
For all ǫ with C > ǫ > 0, the following two properties hold.
1) The number N [wk ] is greater than or equal to ewk (C−ǫ) and write
infinitely often (i.o.) with respect to k. X
w X
w
wk (C+ǫ) GA (y) = M [k]y k + M [l]y l . (10)
2) The number N [wk ] is less than or equal to e
k∈D(y) l∈E(y)
almost everywhere (a.e.) with respect to k.
We assume in the following that the number sequence It follows from Lemma 2 that GA (y) converges iff the set
{wk }∞ E(y) is finite. The number R is the radius of convergence
k=1 is not too dense in the sense that for any integer
n≥0 of GA (y), therefore, for any δ > 1, the set E(R/δ) is finite.
Since D(y) = N\E(y), the finiteness of E(R/δ) is equivalent
max k ≤ LnK (5) to
wk <n

for some constant L ≥ 0 and some constant K ≥ 0. Otherwise, k ∈ D(R/δ) a.e. (11)
the number of possible string weights in the interval [n, n + 1]
We define ǫ = ln δ. Equation (11) is then equivalent to
increases exponentially with n. In this case, Definition 3 does
not apply. We present in the following example a case where N [wk ] < ewk (− ln R+ǫ) a.e. (12)
capacity is not well-defined.
Example 1. Let N [wk ] denote the coefficients of the generat- which implies
ing function of some DNC. Assume N [wk ] = 1 for all k ∈ N
N [wk ] ≤ ewk (− ln R+ǫ) a.e. (13)
and assume

max k = ⌈Rn ⌉ (6) Again since R is the radius of convergence of GA (y), for any
wk <n δ > 1, the set E(Rδ) is infinite. For ǫ = ln δ, this is equivalent
for some R > 1. According to Definition 3, the capacity of to
the DNC is then equal to zero because of ln N [wk ] = 0 for N [wk ] ≥ ewk (− ln R−ǫ) i.o. (14)
all k ∈ N. However, the channel accepts Rn distinct strings
of weight smaller than n. The average amount of data per It follows from (13) and (14) and Definition 3 that − ln R is
string weight that we can transmit over the channel is thus equal to the capacity of A. We therefore have C = − ln R.
lower-bounded by ln Rn /n = ln R, which is according to the In the following example, we show how Lemma 1 applies
assumption greater than zero. ⊳ in practice. We denote by A ∪ B the union of the two sets
Whenever we say that the capacity of a DNC is well-defined, A and B, we denote by AB the set of all concatenations ab
we mean that (5) is fulfilled. with a ∈ A and b ∈ B, and we denote by S ⋆ the Kleene star
operation on S, which is defined as S ⋆ = ǫ ∪ S ∪ SS ∪ · · · .
III. C APACITY BY R ADIUS OF C ONVERGENCE Example 2. We consider a DNC A = (A, w) with the alphabet
One way to calculate the capacity of a DNC is by determin- {0, 1} and symbol weights w(0) = 1 and w(1) = π. The DNC
ing the radius of convergence of its generating function. A does not allow strings that contain two or more consecutive
1s. We represent A by a regular expression and write A =
Lemma 1. Let A be a DNC with the generating function {ε ∪ 1}{0 ∪ 01}⋆. For the generating function of A we get
GA (y). If the capacity C of A is well-defined, then it is given
∞
by C = − ln R where R denotes the radius of convergence of π
X
GA (y). G A (y) = (1 + y ) (y + y 1+π )n . (15)
n=0
In the proof of this lemma, we will need the following result
The radius of convergence is given by the smallest positive
from [3].
solution R of the equation y+y 1+π = 1. We find R = 0.72937.
According to Lemma 1, the capacity of A is thus given by
P∞2. If (5) is fulfilled and if ρ is a positive real number,
Lemma
then k=1 ρwk converges iff ρ < 1. C = − ln R = 0.31558. ⊳