1

Reliability of Memory 9
Systems
□ Error Detecting Systems:
It is the process of encountering errors, resulting from
operational deficiencies or noise.

□ Error Detecting Code (EDC):

A code that is considered to detect an error in
data,

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 Outline
 The need for error detection and correction
 How simple parity check can be used to detect
error
 How Hamming code is used to detect and correct
error

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Introduction
 Environmental interference and physical
defects in the communication medium
can cause random bit errors during data
transmission.
 Error coding is a method of detecting and
correcting these errors to ensure
information is transferred intact from its
source to its destination.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Introduction
 Two basic strategies for dealing with errors
◦ One way is
 to include enough redundant information (extra bits are
introduced into the data stream at the transmitter on a
regular and logical basis)
 along with each block of data sent to enable the receiver
to deduce what the transmitted character must have
been
◦ Other way is
◦ to include only enough redundancy to allow the receiver
to deduce that error has occurred, but not which error
has occurred and the receiver asks for a retransmission

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Introduction
 The former strategy uses Error-
Correcting Codes
 and latter uses Error-detecting Codes.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Types of errors
 Single-bit error
 Burst error
 interferences can change the timing and
shape of the signal.
 If the signal is carrying binary encoded
data, changes can alter the meaning of the
data.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Single-bit Error
 The term single-bit error means that only
one bit of given data unit (such as a byte,
character, or data unit) is changed from 1
to 0 or from 0 to 1

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Single-bit Error
 Single bit errors are least likely type of errors in serial
data transmission.
 To see why, imagine a sender sends data at 10 Mbps.
 This means that each bit lasts only for 0.1 μs (micro-
second).
 For a single bit error to occur noise must have duration
of only 0.1 μs (micro-second), which is very rare.
 However, a single-bit error can happen if we are having a
parallel data transmission.
 For example, if 16 wires are used to send all 16 bits of a
word at the same time and one of the wires is noisy, one
bit is corrupted in each word.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 Burst Error
 Two or more bits in the data unit have changed from 0 to 1 or vice-versa
 Doesn’t means that error occurs in consecutive bits
 The length of the burst error is measured from the first corrupted bit to the
last corrupted bit.
 Some bits in between may not be corrupted.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Burst Error
 Likely to happen in serial transmission.
 The duration of the noise is normally
longer than the duration of a single bit,
which means that the noise affects data; it
affects a set of bits
 The number of bits affected depends on
the data rate and duration of noise.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Error Detecting Codes
 Basic approach used for error detection is
the use of redundancy, where additional
bits are added to facilitate detection and
correction of errors.
 Popular:
◦ Simple Parity check
◦ Two-dimensional Parity check
◦ Hamming code

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Simple Parity Checking or One-
dimension Parity Check

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 Simple Parity Checking or One-
dimension Parity Check
 common and least expensive mechanism for error-
detection is the simple parity check
 redundant bit called parity bit, is appended to every
data unit so that the number of 1s in the unit
 Even Parity : In this method,parity bit of 1 is added to
the block if it contains an odd number of 1’s and 0 is
added if it contains an even number of 1’s.
 At the receiving end the parity bit is computed from
the received data bits and compared with the Sent
parity bit

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Possible 4-bit data words and
corresponding code words

An observation of the
table reveals that to
move from one code
word to another, at least
two data bits should be
changed.
Hence these set of code
words are said to have a
minimum distance
(hamming distance) of 2
A single parity check
code can detect only odd
number of errors in a
code word.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
2D Parity Check
 Parity check bits are calculated for each row, which is
equivalent to a simple parity check bit
 Parity check bits are also calculated for all columns then
both are sent along with the data.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 2
Reliability of Memory 0
Systems: Continued…
□ Error Correcting Systems:
It is the process of discovery of errors, as well as the
restoration of the original data.

□ Error Correction Code:

If any error occurs, then code is used to detect and
correct the errors.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 Single-bit error correction(SEC)
 For correcting an error one has to know the exact position of error,
i.e. exactly which bit is in error
 To calculate the numbers of redundant bits (r) required to correct d
data bits, let us find out the relationship between the two.
 So we have (d+r) as the total number of bits, which are to be
transmitted; then r must be able to indicate at least d+r+1 different
values.
 Of these, one value means no error, and remaining d+r values indicate
error location of error in each of d+r locations.
 So, d+r+1 states must be distinguishable by r bits, and r bits can
indicates 2^r states.
 Hence, 2^r must be greater than d+r+1.; 2^r >= d+r +1

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Error Detection
 if d is 7, then the smallest value of r that
satisfies the above relation is 4. So the
total bits, which are to be transmitted is
11 bits (d+r = 7+4 =11).

Positions of redundancy bits in hamming code

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Error Detection
 Basic approach for error detection by using
Hamming code is as follows:
To each group of m information bits k parity bits are
added to form (m+k) bit code as shown in Fig. 3.2.8.
Location of each of the (m+k) digits is assigned a
decimal value.
The k parity bits are placed in positions 1, 2, …, 2k-1
positions. K parity checks are performed on selected
digits of each codeword.
 At the receiving end the parity bits are recalculated.
The decimal value of the k parity bits provides the bit-
position in error, if any.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 Use of Hamming code
for error correction for a
4-bit data

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 Error Correction
 hamming code is used for correction for 4-bit numbers (d4d3d2d1) with the
help of three redundant bits (r3r2r1).
 For the example data 1010, first r1 (0) is calculated considering the parity of
the bit positions, 1, 3, 5 and 7.
 Then the parity bits r2 is calculated considering bit positions 2, 3, 6 and 7.
 Finally, the parity bits r4 is calculated considering bit positions 4, 5, 6 and 7
as shown.
 If any corruption occurs in any of the transmitted code 1010010, the bit
position in error can be found out by calculating r3r2r1 at the receiving end.
 For example, if the received code word is 1110010, the recalculated value of r3r2r1 is
110, which indicates that bit position in error is 6, the decimal value of 110.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Hamming Code
Architecture

The following general architecture generates a Double

Error Detection (DED) and Single-Error Correcting
(SEC) code for any number of bits.

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Hamming Code Operational 2

Procedure
□ Data are to be read into memory.
□ A function f (Parity Generator), is applied on the data to
yield a code.
□ Parity code (K bits) and the data (M bits) are deposited
in memory.
□ While reading out the word, a new set of K parity code
bits is produced from the M data bits.
□ Finally, compare new parity code with old parity code
bits.
□ Note: For M data bits or K check bits single error
correction hamming code must have (2^K) - 1 >= M +
K

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Arrangement of Hamming code 2
3

Bit 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
positio
n
Positio 1100 1011 1010 1001 1000 0111 0110 0101 0100 0011 0010 0001
n
numbe
r
Data D8 D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1
bit
Parity P8 P4 P2 P1
bit

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Check (Parity) Bits 2
4
Calculations
P1 = 3⊕5⊕7⊕9⊕11 (bit positions)

P2 = 3⊕6⊕7⊕10⊕11 (bit positions)

P4 = 5⊕6⊕7⊕12 (bit positions)

P8 = 9⊕10⊕11⊕12 (bit positions)

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
 2
Example: 5
Generate hamming code (Even parity) for
a 8-bit word – 00111001.

Bit 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
position
Hammin 0 0 1 1 P8 1 0 0 P4 1 P2 P1
g
Code

P1 = 1⊕0⊕1⊕1⊕0 = 1
P2 = 1⊕0⊕1⊕1⊕0 = 1
P4 = 0⊕0⊕1⊕0 =1
P8 = 1⊕1⊕0⊕0 =0
Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Example: 2
6
Detection of error using hamming code
Bit 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
positio
n
Hamm 0 0 1 1 P8=0 1 0 0 P4=1 0 P2=1 P1=1
in
g Code

P1 = 0⊕0⊕1⊕1⊕0 = 0 P8 P4 P2 P1
P2 = 0⊕0⊕1⊕1⊕0 =0 0 1 1 1
P4= 0⊕0⊕1⊕0 = 1 ⊕0 1 0 0
P8 = 1⊕1⊕0⊕0 = 0
0 0 1 1
Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Hamming code technique
illustrated by using Venn diagram
Hamming Encoding:

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Hamming coding technique is illustrated
2
8
by using Venn diagram
Error
Detection:

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Hamming SEC- 2
9
DEC Code

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Assignment: 3
0
1)Find the number odd parity or check bits needed when we have
2048 bit input word? Solution: input word = 2048 bits = 2^12
=12 bits.

2)Suppose an 8-bit input data is 11101010. Determine the odd

parity or check bits?

3)Suppose an 8-bit word is 00111101, Determines the even parity

bits, hamming code word and illustrate how to correct when a
single bit error occurs?

Dr. Ilavarasi A K
Assignment: - Solutions 3
1
1)Find the number odd parity or check bits needed when we have 2048 bit
input word? Solution: input word = 2048 bits = 2^12 =12 bits.

2)Suppose an 8-bit input data is 11101010. Determine the odd parity or

check bits? Solution:
Bit 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
position
Hammi D1 D11 D1 D9 P8 D7 D6 D5 P4 D3 P2 P1
ng 2 0
Code
Input 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0
Data

P1 = D3⊕D5⊕D7⊕D9⊕ D11 = 0⊕1⊕1⊕0⊕1 = 0

P2 = D3⊕D6⊕D7⊕D10⊕ D11 = 0⊕0⊕1⊕1⊕1 =0
P4= D5⊕D6⊕D7⊕ D12 = 1⊕0⊕1⊕1 = 0
P8 = D9⊕D10⊕D11⊕ D12 = 0⊕1⊕1⊕1
Dr. = 0 AK
Ilavarasi
Assignment: - Solutions
3
(Continued..) 2
3) Suppose an 8-bit word is 00111101, Determines the even parity bits, hamming code
word and illustrate how to correct the error if the received word is 00111111.
when
Bit a single
12bit error
11 occurs?
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
position
Hammin D12 D11 D10 D9 P8 D7 D6 D5 P4 D3 P2 P1
g
Code
Input 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1
Data
P1 = D3⊕D5⊕D7⊕D9⊕ D11 = 1⊕0⊕1⊕1⊕0 = 1 Syndrome word
P2 = D3⊕D6⊕D7⊕D10⊕D11 = 1⊕1⊕1⊕1⊕0 =0 P8 P4 P2 P1
P4= D5⊕D6⊕D7⊕D12 = 0⊕1⊕1⊕0 = 0
0 0 0 1
P8 = D9⊕D10⊕D11⊕D12 = 1⊕1⊕0⊕0 = 0
Supposed error occurred in fifth position that is D5 got 1 instead
⊕ 0 1 0 0
of 0 then calculate new even parity.
0 1 0 1
P1 = D3⊕D5⊕D7⊕D9⊕ D11 = 1⊕1⊕1⊕1⊕0 = 0 Error at 5th location
P2 = D3⊕D6⊕D7⊕D10⊕D11 = 1⊕1⊕1⊕1⊕0 =0
P4= D5⊕D6⊕D7⊕D12 = 1⊕1⊕1⊕0 = 1

P8 = D9⊕D10⊕D11⊕D12 = 1⊕1⊕0⊕0 = 0
Dr. Ilavarasi A K
References: 3
3
1. David A. Patterson and . John L. Hennessy “Computer
Organization and Design-The Hardware/Software Interface”
5th edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 2011.

2. Carl Hamacher, Zvonko Vranesic, Safwat Zaky, Computer organization,

Mc Graw Hill, Fifth edition ,Reprint 2011.

3. W. Stallings, Computer organization and architecture, Prentice-Hall, 8th

edition, 2009

Dr. Ilavarasi A K