Constructions of General Covering Designs

Given five positive integers $v, m,k,\lambda$ and $t$ where $v \geq k \geq t$ and $v \geq m \geq t,$ a $t$-$(v,k,m,\lambda)$ general covering design is a pair $(X,\mathcal{B})$ where $X$ is a set of $v$ elements (called points) and $\mathcal{B}$ a multiset of $k$-subsets of $X$ (called blocks) such that every $m$-subset of $X$ intersects (is covered by) at least $\lambda$ members of $\mathcal{B}$ in at least $t$ points. In this article we present new constructions for general covering designs and we generalize some others. By means of these constructions we will be able to obtain some new upper bounds on the minimum size of such designs.Comment: Section 3.2 revised and extended; plus some re-editing throughou

Problems on q-Analogs in Coding Theory

The interest in $q$-analogs of codes and designs has been increased in the last few years as a consequence of their new application in error-correction for random network coding. There are many interesting theoretical, algebraic, and combinatorial coding problems concerning these q-analogs which remained unsolved. The first goal of this paper is to make a short summary of the large amount of research which was done in the area mainly in the last few years and to provide most of the relevant references. The second goal of this paper is to present one hundred open questions and problems for future research, whose solution will advance the knowledge in this area. The third goal of this paper is to present and start some directions in solving some of these problems.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0805.3528 by other author

Covering of Subspaces by Subspaces

Lower and upper bounds on the size of a covering of subspaces in the Grassmann graph \cG_q(n,r) by subspaces from the Grassmann graph \cG_q(n,k), $k \geq r$, are discussed. The problem is of interest from four points of view: coding theory, combinatorial designs, $q$-analogs, and projective geometry. In particular we examine coverings based on lifted maximum rank distance codes, combined with spreads and a recursive construction. New constructions are given for $q=2$ with $r=2$ or $r=3$. We discuss the density for some of these coverings. Tables for the best known coverings, for $q=2$ and $5 \leq n \leq 10$, are presented. We present some questions concerning possible constructions of new coverings of smaller size.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0805.352

New constructions for covering designs

A $(v,k,t)$ {\em covering design}, or {\em covering}, is a family of $k$-subsets, called blocks, chosen from a $v$-set, such that each $t$-subset is contained in at least one of the blocks. The number of blocks is the covering's {\em size}, and the minimum size of such a covering is denoted by $C(v,k,t)$. This paper gives three new methods for constructing good coverings: a greedy algorithm similar to Conway and Sloane's algorithm for lexicographic codes~\cite{lex}, and two methods that synthesize new coverings from preexisting ones. Using these new methods, together with results in the literature, we build tables of upper bounds on $C(v,k,t)$ for $v \leq 32$, $k \leq 16$, and $t \leq 8$.

Tables of subspace codes

One of the main problems of subspace coding asks for the maximum possible cardinality of a subspace code with minimum distance at least $d$ over $\mathbb{F}_q^n$, where the dimensions of the codewords, which are vector spaces, are contained in $K\subseteq\{0,1,\dots,n\}$. In the special case of $K=\{k\}$ one speaks of constant dimension codes. Since this (still) emerging field is very prosperous on the one hand side and there are a lot of connections to classical objects from Galois geometry it is a bit difficult to keep or to obtain an overview about the current state of knowledge. To this end we have implemented an on-line database of the (at least to us) known results at \url{subspacecodes.uni-bayreuth.de}. The aim of this recurrently updated technical report is to provide a user guide how this technical tool can be used in research projects and to describe the so far implemented theoretic and algorithmic knowledge.Comment: 44 pages, 6 tables, 7 screenshot

Connected covering numbers

A connected covering is a design system in which the corresponding {\em block graph} is connected. The minimum size of such coverings are called {\em connected coverings numbers}. In this paper, we present various formulas and bounds for several parameter settings for these numbers. We also investigate results in connection with {\em Tur\'an systems}. Finally, a new general upper bound, improving an earlier result, is given. The latter is used to improve upper bounds on a question concerning oriented matroid due to Las Vergnas.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

A single-photon sampling architecture for solid-state imaging

Advances in solid-state technology have enabled the development of silicon photomultiplier sensor arrays capable of sensing individual photons. Combined with high-frequency time-to-digital converters (TDCs), this technology opens up the prospect of sensors capable of recording with high accuracy both the time and location of each detected photon. Such a capability could lead to significant improvements in imaging accuracy, especially for applications operating with low photon fluxes such as LiDAR and positron emission tomography. The demands placed on on-chip readout circuitry imposes stringent trade-offs between fill factor and spatio-temporal resolution, causing many contemporary designs to severely underutilize the technology's full potential. Concentrating on the low photon flux setting, this paper leverages results from group testing and proposes an architecture for a highly efficient readout of pixels using only a small number of TDCs, thereby also reducing both cost and power consumption. The design relies on a multiplexing technique based on binary interconnection matrices. We provide optimized instances of these matrices for various sensor parameters and give explicit upper and lower bounds on the number of TDCs required to uniquely decode a given maximum number of simultaneous photon arrivals. To illustrate the strength of the proposed architecture, we note a typical digitization result of a 120x120 photodiode sensor on a 30um x 30um pitch with a 40ps time resolution and an estimated fill factor of approximately 70%, using only 161 TDCs. The design guarantees registration and unique recovery of up to 4 simultaneous photon arrivals using a fast decoding algorithm. In a series of realistic simulations of scintillation events in clinical positron emission tomography the design was able to recover the spatio-temporal location of 98.6% of all photons that caused pixel firings.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 5 table