ON THE MULTIPLE UNCAST CAPACITY OF 3-SOURCE, 3-TERMINAL DIRECTED ACYCLIC NETWORKS

We consider the multiple-uncast problem with three source-terminal pairs over directed acyclic networks with unit-capacity edges. The three si-ti pairs wish to communicate at unit-rate via network coding. The connectivity between the si-ti pairs is quantified by means of a connectivity-level vector, [k1k2 k3] such that there exist ki edge-disjoint paths between si and ti. In this paper, we attempt to classify networks based on the connectivity level. It can be observed that unit-rate transmission can be supported by routing if ki ≥ 3, for all i = 1, ..., 3. In this paper, we consider connectivity-level vectors such that mini=1,...,3 ki <; 3. We present either a constructive linear network coding scheme or an instance of a network that cannot support the desired unit-rate requirement, for all such connectivity-level vectors except the vector [1 2 4] (and its permutations). The benefits of our schemes extend to networks with higher and potentially different edge capacities. Specifically, our experimental results indicate that for networks where the different source-terminal paths have a significant overlap, our constructive unit-rate schemes can be packed along with routing to provide higher throughput as compared to a pure routing approach.