Rank Modulated Composite Encoding for Data Storage in DNA

2026-05-30

AI Summary

This study addresses the channel capacity and code construction for DNA composite storage integrated with rank modulation. Leveraging the fact that each DNA strand can be massively replicated during synthesis, the authors model each composite symbol as a mixture of the four nucleotides and propose to encode information solely through the relative ordering of motifs within the mixture. This work introduces rank modulation into DNA composite storage for the first time, establishing a novel coding dimension independent of the exact nucleotide composition. By combining information-theoretic analysis, combinatorial coding theory, and rank modulation techniques, the authors formulate a mathematical model of the channel, derive an upper bound on its capacity, and present explicit code constructions along with corresponding performance bounds.

Abstract

This paper studies two problems that are motivated by combining two novel approaches, namely DNA composite and rank modulation. The recent approach of composite DNA takes advantage of the DNA synthesis property which generates a huge number of copies for every synthesized strand. Under this paradigm, every composite symbols does not store a single nucleotide but a mixture of the four DNA nucleotides. Instead of considering all the possible composite symbols we are interested only in the rank of the motifs in the symbol. The first problem in this paper addresses the capacity of a channel that uses such symbols, while in the second, bounds and construction of such codes are studied.

Problem

• DNA composite
• rank modulation
• data storage
• channel capacity
• code construction

Innovation

• rank modulation
• composite DNA
• DNA data storage
• channel capacity
• coding theory