On the existence of nested orthogonal arrays (Q942093)

An orthogonal array \(\text{OA}(N,k,s,g)\) has \(N\) rows, \(k\) columns, \(s\) symbols, and strength \(g\) if it is an \(N \times k\) array with entries from an \(s\)-set in which every possible combination of symbols appear equally often as rows in every \(N \times g\) subarray. An \(\text{OA}(M,k,r,g)\) is nested if it is a proper subarray of an \(\text{OA}(N,k,s,g)\). Note that \(N < M\), and \(r < s\). In this paper necessary conditions for the existence of nested arrays are obtained in the form of upper bounds on \(k\), given \(N,M,s,r\), and \(g\). Examples are given to demonstrate that the results are powerful in proving nonexistence.