Asymptotic capacity of two-dimensional channels with checkerboard constraints

A checkerboard constraint is a bounded measurable set S/spl sub/R/sup 2/, containing the origin. A binary labeling of the Z/sup 2/ lattice satisfies the checkerboard constraint S if whenever t/spl isin/Z/sup 2/ is labeled 1, all of the other Z/sup 2/-lattice points in the translate t+S are labeled 0. Two-dimensional channels that only allow labelings of Z/sup 2/ satisfying checkerboard constraints are studied. Let A(S) be the area of S, and let A(S)/spl rarr//spl infin/ mean that S retains its shape but is inflated in size in the form /spl alpha/S, as /spl alpha//spl rarr//spl infin/. It is shown that for any open checkerboard constraint S, there exist positive reals K/sub 1/ and K/sub 2/ such that as A(S)/spl rarr//spl infin/, the channel capacity C/sub S/ decays to zero at least as fast as (K/sub 1/log/sub 2/A(S))/A(S) and at most as fast as (K/sub 2/log/sub 2/A(S))/A(S). It is also shown that if S is an open convex and symmetric checkerboard constraint, then as A(S)/spl rarr//spl infin/, the capacity decays exactly at the rate 4/spl delta/(S)(log/sub 2/A(S))/A(S), where /spl delta/(S) is the packing density of the set S. An implication is that the capacity of such checkerboard constrained channels is asymptotically determined only by the areas of the constraint and the smallest (possibly degenerate) hexagon that can be circumscribed about the constraint. In particular, this establishes that channels with square, diamond, or hexagonal checkerboard constraints all asymptotically have the same capacity, since /spl delta/(S)=1 for such constraints.