List decoding for a multiple access hyperchannel

Abstract

We obtain bounds on the rate of (optimal) list-decoding codes with a fixed list size L ≥ 1 for a q-ary multiple access hyperchannel (MAHC) with s ≥ 2 inputs and one output. By definition, an output signal of this channel is the set of symbols of a q-ary alphabet that occur in at least one of the s input signals. For example, in the case of a binary MAHC, where q = 2, an output signal takes values in the ternary alphabet {0, 1, {0, 1}}; namely, it equals 0 (1) if all the s input signals are 0 (1) and equals {0, 1} otherwise. Previously, upper and lower bounds on the code rate for a q-ary MAHC were studied for L ≥ 1 and q = 2, and also for the nonbinary case q ≥ 3 for L = 1 only, i.e., for so-called frameproof codes. Constructing upper and lower bounds on the rate for the general case of L ≥ 1 and q ≥ 2 in the present paper is based on a substantial development of methods that we designed earlier for the classical binary disjunctive multiple access channel.