We introduce a dynamical model of node repair in distributed storage systems wherein the storage nodes are subjected to failures according to independent Poisson processes. The main parameter that we study is the time-average capacity of the network in the scenario where a fixed subset of the nodes support a higher repair bandwidth than the other nodes. The sequence of node failures generates random permutations of the nodes in the encoded block, and we model the state of the network as a Markov random walk on permutations of $n$ elements. As our main result we show that the capacity of the network can be increased compared to the static (worst-case) model of the storage system, while maintaining the same (average) repair bandwidth, and we derive estimates of the increase. We also quantify the capacity increase in the case that the repair center has information about the sequence of the recently failed storage nodes.
Due to the redundant nature of DNA synthesis and sequencing technologies, a basic model for a DNA storage system is a multi-draw "shuffling-sampling" channel. In this model, a random number of noisy copies of each sequence is observed at the channel output. Recent works have characterized the capacity of such a DNA storage channel under different noise and sequencing models, relying on sophisticated typicality-based approaches for the achievability. Here, we consider a multi-draw DNA storage channel in the setting of noise corruption by a binary erasure channel. We show that, in this setting, …
Motivated by applications in distributed storage, the storage capacity of a graph was recently defined to be the maximum amount of information that can be stored across the vertices of a graph such that the information at any vertex can be recovered from the information stored at the neighboring vertices. Computing the storage capacity is a fundamental problem in network coding and is related, or equivalent, to some well-studied problems such as index coding with side information and generalized guessing games. In this paper, we consider storage capacity as a natural information-theoretic anal…
The problem of private information retrieval with graph-based replicated storage was recently introduced by Raviv, Tamo and Yaakobi. Its capacity remains open in almost all cases. In this work the asymptotic (large number of messages) capacity of this problem is studied along with its generalizations to include arbitrary $T$-privacy and $X$-security constraints, where the privacy of the user must be protected against any set of up to $T$ colluding servers and the security of the stored data must be protected against any set of up to $X$ colluding servers. A general achievable scheme for arbitr…
In this paper, we propose a strategy for making DNA-based data storage information-theoretically secure through the use of wiretap channel coding. This motivates us to extend the shuffling-sampling channel model of Shomorony and Heckel (2021) to include a wiretapper. Our main result is a characterization of the secure storage capacity of our DNA wiretap channel model, which is the maximum rate at which data can be stored within a pool of DNA molecules so as to be reliably retrieved by an authorized party (Bob), while ensuring that an unauthorized party (Eve) gets almost no information from her…
A storage code over a graph maps $K$ independent source symbols, each of $L_w$ bits, to $N$ coded symbols, each of $L_v$ bits, such that each coded symbol is stored in a node of the graph and each edge of the graph is associated with one source symbol. From a pair of nodes connected by an edge, the source symbol that is associated with the edge can be decoded. The ratio $L_w/L_v$ is called the symbol rate of a storage code and the highest symbol rate is called the capacity. We show that the three highest capacity values of storage codes over graphs are $2, 3/2, 4/3$. We characterize all graphs…
The capacity of private information retrieval (PIR) from databases coded using maximum distance separable (MDS) codes has been previously characterized by Banawan and Ulukus, where it was assumed that the messages are encoded and stored separably into the databases. This assumption was also usually taken in other related works in the literature, and this capacity is usually referred to as the MDS-PIR capacity colloquially. In this work, we considered the question if and when this capacity barrier can be broken through joint encoding and storing of the messages. Our main results are two classes…
We propose capacity-achieving schemes for private information retrieval (PIR) from uncoded databases (DBs) with both homogeneous and heterogeneous storage constraints. In the PIR setting, a user queries a set of DBs to privately download a message, where privacy implies that no one DB can infer which message the user desires. In general, a PIR scheme is comprised of storage placement and delivery designs. Previous works have derived the capacity, or infimum download cost, of PIR with uncoded storage placement and also sufficient conditions of a storage placement design to meet capacity. Howeve…
This paper investigates reducing sub-packetization of capacity-achieving schemes for uncoded Storage Constrained Private Information Retrieval (SC-PIR) systems. In the SC-PIR system, a user aims to retrieve one out of $K$ files from $N$ servers while revealing nothing about its identity to any individual server, in which the $K$ files are stored at the $N$ servers in an uncoded form and each server can store up to $μK$ equivalent files, where $μ$ is the normalized storage capacity of each server. We first prove that there exists a capacity-achieving SC-PIR scheme for a given storage design if …
In this paper, we aim to minimize the average file transmission delay via bandwidth allocation and cache placement in two-tier heterogeneous networks with limited storage capacity, which consists of cache capacity and buffer capacity. For average delay minimization problem with fixed bandwidth allocation, although this problem is nonconvex, the optimal solution is obtained in closed form by comparing all locally optimal solutions calculated from solving the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions. To jointly optimize bandwidth allocation and cache placement, the optimal bandwidth allocation is first der…
The DNA storage channel is considered, in which the $M$ Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules comprising each codeword are stored without order, sampled $N$ times with replacement, and then sequenced over a discrete memoryless channel. For a constant coverage depth $M/N$ and molecule length scaling $Θ(\log M)$, lower (achievability) and upper (converse) bounds on the capacity of the channel, as well as a lower (achievability) bound on the reliability function of the channel are provided. Both the lower and upper bounds on the capacity generalize a bound which was previously known to hold only …
In this paper, we investigate a cache updating system with a server containing $N$ files, $K$ relays and $M$ users. The server keeps the freshest versions of the files which are updated with fixed rates. Each relay can download the fresh files from the server in a certain period of time. Each user can get the fresh files from any relay as long as the relay has stored the fresh versions of the requested files. Due to the limited storage capacity and updating capacity of each relay, different cache designs will lead to different average freshness of all updating files at users. In order to keep …
This paper addresses the problem of constructing secure exact-repair regenerating codes at the MSR point for all feasible values of the parameters. The setting involves a passive eavesdropper who is allowed to observe the stored contents of, and the downloads into, an $l$-subset of the $n$ nodes of a distributed storage system (DSS). The objective is to achieve perfect secrecy between the eavesdropped symbols and the file stored on the DSS. Previous secure code constructions (most notably that by Rawat et al.) tackle the problem only for the restricted case wherein the number, $d$, of helper n…
In distributed storage systems (DSSs), the optimal tradeoff between node storage and repair bandwidth is an important issue for designing distributed coding strategies to ensure large scale data reliability. The capacity of DSSs is obtained as a function of node storage and repair bandwidth parameters, characterizing the tradeoff. There are lots of works on DSSs with clusters (racks) where the repair bandwidths from intra-cluster and cross-cluster are differentiated. However, separate nodes are also prevalent in the realistic DSSs, but the works on DSSs with clusters and separate nodes (CSN-DS…
We propose coding techniques that limit the length of homopolymers runs, ensure the GC-content constraint, and are capable of correcting a single edit error in strands of nucleotides in DNA-based data storage systems. In particular, for given $\ell, ε > 0$, we propose simple and efficient encoders/decoders that transform binary sequences into DNA base sequences (codewords), namely sequences of the symbols A, T, C and G, that satisfy the following properties: (i) Runlength constraint: the maximum homopolymer run in each codeword is at most $\ell$, (ii) GC-content constraint: the GC-content of e…
Motivated by DNA-based storage, we study the noisy shuffling channel, which can be seen as the concatenation of a standard noisy channel (such as the BSC) and a shuffling channel, which breaks the data block into small pieces and shuffles them. This channel models a DNA storage system, by capturing two of its key aspects: (1) the data is written onto many short DNA molecules that are stored in an unordered way and (2) the molecules are corrupted by noise at synthesis, sequencing, and during storage. For the BSC-shuffling channel we characterize the capacity exactly (for a large set of paramete…
A secure storage code maps $K$ source symbols, each of $L_w$ bits, to $N$ coded symbols, each of $L_v$ bits, such that each coded symbol is stored in a node of a graph. Each edge of the graph is either associated with $D$ of the $K$ source symbols such that from the pair of nodes connected by the edge, we can decode the $D$ source symbols and learn no information about the remaining $K-D$ source symbols; or the edge is associated with no source symbols such that from the pair of nodes connected by the edge, nothing about the $K$ source symbols is revealed. The ratio $L_w/L_v$ is called the sym…
One of the primary objectives of a distributed storage system is to reliably store large amounts of source data for long durations using a large number $N$ of unreliable storage nodes, each with $c$ bits of storage capacity. Storage nodes fail randomly over time and are replaced with nodes of equal capacity initialized to zeroes, and thus bits are erased at some rate $e$. To maintain recoverability of the source data, a repairer continually reads data over a network from nodes at an average rate $r$, and generates and writes data to nodes based on the read data. The distributed storage source …
We consider the problem of private information retrieval (PIR) from multiple storage nodes when the underlying database is encoded using regenerating codes, i.e., the database has the ability to recover from individual node failures. We seek optimality in terms of download rates when a user wants to retrieve a message privately (in an information-theoretic sense) from the database. We focus mostly on the more extensively explored Minimum Storage Regenerating (MSR) codes and formally state and prove the PIR capacity of such codes. We also give a simple scheme to achieve this capacity which is b…
In this paper, we study achievable rates of concatenated coding schemes over a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) storage channel. Our channel model incorporates the main features of DNA-based data storage. First, information is stored on many, short DNA strands. Second, the strands are stored in an unordered fashion inside the storage medium and each strand is replicated many times. Third, the data is accessed in an uncontrollable manner, i.e., random strands are drawn from the medium and received, possibly with errors. As one of our results, we show that there is a significant gap between the chann…
In this paper, we study the problem of distributed multi-user secret sharing, including a trusted master node, $N\in \mathbb{N}$ storage nodes, and $K$ users, where each user has access to the contents of a subset of storage nodes. Each user has an independent secret message with certain rate, defined as the size of the message normalized by the size of a storage node. Having access to the secret messages, the trusted master node places encoded shares in the storage nodes, such that (i) each user can recover its own message from the content of the storage nodes that it has access to, (ii) each…
In this paper, we introduce a model of a distributed storage system that is locally recoverable from any single server failure. Unlike the usual local recovery model of codes for distributed storage, this model accounts for the fact that each server or storage node in a network is connectible to only some, and not all other, nodes. This may happen for reasons such as physical separation, inhomogeneity in storage platforms etc. We estimate the storage capacity of both undirected and directed networks under this model and propose some constructive schemes. From a coding theory point of view, we …
Private information retrieval (PIR) allows a user to retrieve a desired message from a set of databases without revealing the identity of the desired message. The replicated databases scenario was considered by Sun and Jafar, 2016, where $N$ databases can store the same $K$ messages completely. A PIR scheme was developed to achieve the optimal download cost given by $\left(1+ \frac{1}{N}+ \frac{1}{N^{2}}+ \cdots + \frac{1}{N^{K-1}}\right)$. In this work, we consider the problem of PIR from storage constrained databases. Each database has a storage capacity of $μKL$ bits, where $L$ is the size …
