Error Detection & Correction

• Types of Errors
• Detection
• Correction
 Basic concepts
Networks must be able to transfer data from
one device to another with complete accuracy.
 Data can be corrupted during transmission.
For reliable communication, errors must be
detected and corrected.
Error detection and correction
are implemented either at the data link
layer or the transport layer of the OSI
model.
 Sources of errors
– a)Electromagnetic distortion of signal:
“noise” on the line.
– b)Error in sampling pulse relative to
neighbor pulse: “inter-symbol
interference”
– c)Energy coupling due to nearby links:
“cross-talk”.
– d)The storage of information on the
magnetic devices is prone to errors due to
uneven magnetic surface, dust etc.
Types of Errors
Single-bit error
 Single bit errors are the least likely type of
errors in serial data transmission because
the noise must have a very short duration
which is very rare. However this kind of
errors can happen in parallel transmission.
Example:
If data is sent at 1Mbps then each bit lasts
only 1/1,000,000 sec. or 1 µs.
For a single-bit error to occur, the noise
must have a duration of only 1 µs, which is
very rare.
Burst error
The term burst error means that two or
more bits in the data unit have changed
from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1.

Burst errors does not necessarily mean that

the errors occur in consecutive bits, the
length of the burst is measured from the first
corrupted bit to the last corrupted bit. Some
bits in between may not have been
corrupted.
Burst error is most likely to happen in serial
transmission since the duration of noise is
normally longer than the duration of a bit.
The number of bits affected depends on the data
rate and duration of noise.
Example:
🢂 If data is sent at rate = 1Kbps then a noise of 1/100 sec
can affect 10 bits.(1/100*1000)

🢂 If same data is sent at rate = 1Mbps then a noise of

1/100 sec can affect 10,000 bits.(1/100*106)
 ERROR DETECTING & ERROR CORRECTING CODES
To detect as well as correct these errors, various codes are
present and these codes are:

(1) ERROR DETECTING CODES.

(2) ERROR CORRECTING CODES

The first type of code enables the device to detect errors which occur in
the code of the bits and second type of code correct the errors
automatically.

The various types of error detection and error correction techniques

are closely related with the HAMMING DISTANCE between any two
codes in the set of codes.
• Minimum Hamming Distance the measurement
that is used for designing a code is the minimum
Hamming distance.
• We use dmin to define the minimum Hamming
distance in a coding scheme.
• To find this value, we find the Hamming distances
between all words and select the smallest one
 Let us find the Hamming distance between two pairs of
words.

1. The Hamming distance d(000, 011) is 2 because

2. The Hamming distance d(10101, 11110) is 3 because

10.13
 Example

Find the minimum Hamming distance of the coding

scheme in Table
Solution
We first find all Hamming distances.

The dmin in this case is 2.

10.14
Hamming Distance and Error

• let us discuss the relationship between the Hamming distance and

errors occurring during transmission.
• When a codeword is corrupted during transmission, the Hamming
distance between the sent and received codewords is the number of
bits affected by the error.

• In other words, the Hamming distance between the received

codeword and the sent codeword is the number of bits that are
corrupted during transmission.
• For example, if the codeword 00000 is sent and 01101 is received, 3
bits are in error and the Hamming distance between the two is
d(00000, 01101) =3
 Error detection
Error detection means to decide whether the
received data is correct or not without having a
copy of the original message. In error detection
technique, it can only determine whether error has
occurred or not but it cannot correct it.
Error detection uses the concept of redundancy,
which means adding extra bits for detecting
errors at the destination.
Redundancy
Four types of redundancy checks are used
in data communications
 ERROR-DETECTING CODES
PARITY
PARITY is the no. of ones present in the data whereas PARITY BIT is
an extra bit (that may be 0 or 1) which may be added in the data for
making the parity to be even or odd. The two different methods are
used & they are:
•EVEN PARITY METHOD.
In this method, the value of parity bit is taken as 0 or 1 depending upon the total no. of 1's
INCLUDING THE PARITY BIT to be even.

•ODD PARITY METHOD.

This method is similar to the even parity technique such that total no. of 1's INCLUDING THE PARITY
BIT would be odd.
For detection of error an extra bit known as parity bit is attached to
each code word to make the no. of ones in the code even(even
parity) or odd(odd parity).
 ERROR-DETECTING
CODES
BCDBcCoDdceodweiwthiththeveenpa&roitdydbpiatritiesare shown in the table below
BCD code BCD code with even parity BCD code with odd pa

D C B A P D C B A P D C B A
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1
0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1
Error detection: Parity
Vertical Redundancy Check
VRC
 Performance

🢂 It can detect single bit error

🢂 It can detect burst errors only if the total
number of errors is odd.
Longitudinal Redundancy Check
LRC
 Performance

🢂 LRC increases the likelihood of detecting

burst errors.
🢂 If two bits in one data units are damaged
and two bits in exactly the same positions in
another data unit are also damaged, the LRC
checker will not detect an error.
Cyclic Redundancy Check
 Cyclic Redundancy Check
• To show this process more clearly, we will walk through an example.
• Suppose G = 10011 and D = 1010101010
• Since G is an agreed upon from both nodes, it will be given. Since G is 5 bits long,
then r is |G|-1=4, r=4.
• D will be now shifted left by 4-bits and zero will be inserted into those places,
and the new pattern will be denotes by D' = 10101010100000
• Now we will divide G into D' using an “exclusive or” operation. This is shown in
Figure 1.
• The remainder from the division, R, will be the bit pattern need to add to D' such
that the resulting bit pattern will be exactly divisible with G.

from the example about the resulting bit pattern when R is added to D' is D'' =
10101010100100
Then divide G into D''.
If you computed the correct R then the resulting remainder will be 0. This is shown
CHECKSUM METHOD
The PARITY METHOD will not work when even no. of changes occur
because the even error will not change the oddness & evenness of the
total no. of 1's in the code.

Thus, to avoid this CHECKSUM METHOD is used as each data to be

transmitted is added to the previous one & sum is retained at the
sending end. At the end of transmission, the total sum known as
checksum is sent and is checked at the receiving point.
Checksum
 At the sender
The unit is divided into k sections, each of n
bits.
All sections are added together using one’s
complement to get the sum.
The sum is complemented and becomes the
checksum.
The checksum is sent with the data
 At the receiver
The unit is divided into k sections, each of n
bits.
All sections are added together using one’s
complement to get the sum.
The sum is complemented.
If the result is zero, the data are accepted:
otherwise, they are rejected.
 Performance
🢂 The checksum detects all errors involving an
odd number of bits.
🢂 It detects most errors involving an even number
of bits.
🢂 If one or more bits of a segment are damaged
and the corresponding bit or bits of opposite
value in a second segment are also damaged, the
sums of those columns will not change and the
receiver will not detect a problem.
 Error Correction
It can be handled in two ways:
1) receiver can have the sender retransmit the
entire data unit.
2) The receiver can use an error-correcting
code, which automatically corrects certain
errors.
Single-bit error correction
To correct an error, the receiver reverses the value
of the altered bit. To do so, it must know which bit
is in error.
Number of redundancy bits needed
• Let data bits = m
• Redundancy bits = r
Total message sent = m+r
The value of r must satisfy the following relation:
2r ≥ m+r+1
Error Correction
 Hamming Codes

HAMMING CODE :

is constructed by adding a no. of parity bits to each group of n-bit

information, or message in such a way so as to be able to locate the
bit position in which error occurs.

Values (0 or 1) are assigned to the parity bits so as to make the

hamming code have either even parity or odd parity & when an error
occurs, the position no. will take on the value assigned to the location
of the erroneous bit.
Hamming Code
 Hamming Codes
Hamming Codes
Construction for 1-bit error-correcting codes
Minimal number of check bits required
Construction
number bits from 1 upward
powers of 2 are check bits
all others are data bits
Check bit j is XOR of all bits k such that (j AND k) = j
Example:
4 bits of data, 3 check bits
Hamming Codes: Example
Hamming Codes: Example
 Hamming Codes: Example
For example

A hamming code 0110001 is being received. Find the correct code which is being transmitted.

SOLUTION: 001 010 011 100 101 110 111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
P1 P2 D1 P3 D2 D3 D4
0 1 1 0 0 0 1
P1 = 1 , 3 , 5, 7
P2 = 2 , 3 ,6 , 7
P3 = 4 , 5 , 6 ,7

Checksum Bits:

C1 = 0
C2 = 1
C3 = 1
In reverse order, 110.
Therefore, error has occurred at position 6.
Hence, the exact code transmitted is: 0110011.
 ERROR DETECTING & ERROR CORRECTING
CODES
(Conclusion)
1.These codes help us to trace out the errors in the digital data and to correct that
error.

2. There are many types of codes for error detection and correction e.g. parity bit
is a kind of error detection code that can find only one bit error
in the data.

3. Hamming code is an error detection and correction code.

4.These codes are used in detecting and correcting error in the transmitted
digital data and it helps in the error free transmission of the data.
Hamming Code
Hamming Code
Example of Hamming Code
 Excercise
• Generate the hamming code for data
111011001 with even parity ?