A three-class association scheme on the flags of a finite projective plane and a (PBIB) design defined by the incidence of the flags and the Baer subplanes in \(PG(2,q^ 2)\) (Q687135)

The author defines a three-class association scheme on the flags of a projective plane as follows: \((p,l)\) and \((p',l')\) are first associates if either \(p= p'\) or \(l=l'\), second associates if \(p\neq p'\) and \(l\neq l'\) but either \((p,l')\) or \((p',l)\) is a flag and third associates otherwise. If the plane is Desarguesian of square order and we define a block to be the set of all flags contained in a common Baer subplane then we obtain a partially balanced incomplete block design on the above association scheme.