Non-Adaptive Group Testing based on Sparse Pooling Graphs

Abstract: In this paper, an information theoretic analysis on non-adaptive group testing schemes based on sparse pooling graphs is presented. The binary status of the objects to be tested are modeled by i.i.d. Bernoulli random variables with probability p. An (l, r, n)-regular pooling graph is a bipartite graph with left node degree l and right node degree r, where n is the number of left nodes. Two scenarios are considered: a noiseless setting and a noisy one. The main contributions of this paper are direct part theorems that give conditions for the existence of an estimator achieving arbitrary small estimation error probability. The direct part theorems are proved by averaging an upper bound on estimation error probability of the typical set estimator over an (l,r, n)-regular pooling graph ensemble. Numerical results indicate sharp threshold behaviors in the asymptotic regime.