Network Coding for $3$s$/n$t Sum-Networks

Abstract

A sum-network is a directed acyclic network where each source independently generates one symbol from a given field $\mathbb F$ and each terminal wants to receive the sum $($over $\mathbb F)$ of the source symbols. For sum-networks with two sources or two terminals, the solvability is characterized by the connection condition of each source-terminal pair [3]. A necessary and sufficient condition for the solvability of the $3$-source $3$-terminal $(3$s$/3$t$)$ sum-networks was given by Shenvi and Dey [6]. However, the general case of arbitrary sources/sinks is still open. In this paper, we investigate the sum-network with three sources and $n$ sinks using a region decomposition method. A sufficient and necessary condition is established for a class of $3$s$/n$t sum-networks. As a direct application of this result, a necessary and sufficient condition of solvability is obtained for the special case of $3$s$/3$t sum-networks.