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3F4 Error Control Coding: Dr. I. J. Wassell
3F4 Error Control Coding: Dr. I. J. Wassell
Dr. I. J. Wassell
Introduction
Error Control Coding (ECC)
Extra bits are added to the data at the
transmitter (redundancy) to permit error
detection or correction at the receiver
Done to prevent the output of erroneous bits
despite noise and other imperfections in the
channel
The positions of the error control coding and
decoding are shown in the transmission model
Transmission Model
Error Modulator
Digital Source
Control
Line X(w)
(Transmit
Source Encoder Coding
Coding Filter, etc)
Hc(w) Channel
Transmitter
N(w) Noise
+
Error Demod
Digital Source Line
Control (Receive
Sink Decoder
Decoding
Decoding
Filter, etc)
Y(w)
Receiver
Error Models
Binary Symmetric Memoryless Channel
Assumes transmitted symbols are binary
Errors affect 0s and 1s with equal
probability (i.e., symmetric)
Errors occur randomly and are independent
from bit to bit (memoryless)
1-p
0 0 p is the probability of
p
bit error or the Bit
IN OUT Error Rate (BER) of
p
1 1 the channel
1-p
Error Models
Many other types
Burst errors, i.e., contiguous bursts of bit
errors
output from DFE (error propagation)
common in radio channels
Insertion, deletion and transposition errors
We will consider mainly random errors
Error Control Techniques
Error detection in a block of data
Can then request a retransmission, known as
automatic repeat request (ARQ) for sensitive
data
Appropriate for
Low delay channels
Channels with a return path
Not appropriate for delay sensitive data, e.g.,
real time speech and data
Error Control Techniques
Forward Error Correction (FEC)
Coding designed so that errors can be corrected
at the receiver
Appropriate for delay sensitive and one-way
transmission (e.g., broadcast TV) of data
Two main types, namely block codes and
convolutional codes. We will only look at block
codes
Block Codes
We will consider only binary data
Data is grouped into blocks of length k bits
(dataword)
Each dataword is coded into blocks of
length n bits (codeword), where in general
n>k
This is known as an (n,k) block code
Block Codes
A vector notation is used for the datawords
and codewords,
Dataword d = (d1 d2.dk)
Codeword c = (c1 c2..cn)
The redundancy introduced by the code is
quantified by the code rate,
Code rate = k/n
i.e., the higher the redundancy, the lower the
code rate
Block Code - Example
Dataword length k = 4
Codeword length n = 7
This is a (7,4) block code with code rate = 4/7
For example, d = (1101), c = (1101001)
Error Control Process
Source code Codeword
data chopped (n bits)
101101 1000 into blocks
Channel
1000
Dataword coder
(k bits)
Codeword +
Dataword possible errors
(k bits) (n bits)
Channel Channel
decoder
Error flags
Error Control Process
Decoder gives corrected data
May also give error flags to
Indicate reliability of decoded data
Helps with schemes employing multiple layers
of error correction
Parity Codes
Example of a simple block code Single
Parity Check Code
In this case, n = k+1, i.e., the codeword is the
dataword with one additional bit
For even parity the additional bit is,
q i 1 di (mod 2)
k
Dataword Codeword
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0 1 0 1
0 1 1 0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 0 0 1
1 0 1 1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1 1 0 0
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Parity Codes
To decode
Calculate sum of received bits in block (mod 2)
If sum is 0 (1) for even (odd) parity then the dataword is the
first k bits of the received codeword
Otherwise error
Code can detect single errors
But cannot correct error since the error could be in
any bit
For example, if the received dataword is (100000) the
transmitted dataword could have been (000000) or
(110000) with the error being in the first or second
place respectively
Note error could also lie in other positions including
the parity bit
Parity Codes
Known as a single error detecting code
(SED). Only useful if probability of getting
2 errors is small since parity will become
correct again
Used in serial communications
Low overhead but not very powerful
Decoder can be implemented efficiently
using a tree of XOR gates
Hamming Distance
Error control capability is determined by the
Hamming distance
The Hamming distance between two
codewords is equal to the number of
differences between them, e.g.,
10011011
11010010 have a Hamming distance = 3
Alternatively, can compute by adding
codewords (mod 2)
=01001001 (now count up the ones)
Hamming Distance
The Hamming distance of a code is equal to
the minimum Hamming distance between
two codewords
If Hamming distance is:
1 no error control capability; i.e., a single error
in a received codeword yields another valid
codeword
XXXXXXX X is a valid codeword
Note that this representation is diagrammatic
only.
In reality each codeword is surrounded by n
codewords. That is, one for every bit that
could be changed
Hamming Distance
If Hamming distance is:
2 can detect single errors (SED); i.e., a single
error will yield an invalid codeword
XOXOXO X is a valid codeword
O in not a valid codeword
See that 2 errors will yield a valid (but
incorrect) codeword
Hamming Distance
If Hamming distance is:
3 can correct single errors (SEC) or can detect
double errors (DED)
XOOXOOX X is a valid codeword
O in not a valid codeword
See that 3 errors will yield a valid but
incorrect codeword
Hamming Distance - Example
Hamming distance 3 code, i.e., SEC/DED
Or can perform single error correction (SEC)
X is a valid codeword
O is an invalid codeword
Hamming Distance
The maximum number of detectable errors is
dmin 1
That is the maximum number of correctable errors
is given by,
d min 1
t
2
where dmin is the minimum Hamming distance
between 2 codewords and . means the smallest
integer
Linear Block Codes
As seen from the second Parity Code
example, it is possible to use a table to hold
all the codewords for a code and to look-up
the appropriate codeword based on the
supplied dataword
Alternatively, it is possible to create
codewords by addition of other codewords.
This has the advantage that there is now no
longer the need to held every possible
codeword in the table.
Linear Block Codes
If there are k data bits, all that is required is to
hold k linearly independent codewords, i.e., a set
of k codewords none of which can be produced by
linear combinations of 2 or more codewords in the
set.
The easiest way to find k linearly independent
codewords is to choose those which have 1 in
just one of the first k positions and 0 in the other
k-1 of the first k positions.
Linear Block Codes
For example for a (7,4) code, only four
codewords are required, e.g.,
1 0 0 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 0 1 0 1
0 0 1 0 0 1 1
0 0 0 1 1 1 1
c3 c1 c2
Linear Block Codes
0 is always a codeword, i.e.,
Since all zeros is a dataword then,
k
c 0 ai 0
i 1
Error Correcting Power of LBC
The Hamming distance of a linear block code (LBC)
is simply the minimum Hamming weight (number of
1s or equivalently the distance from the all 0
codeword) of the non-zero codewords
Note d(c1,c2) = w(c1+ c2) as shown previously
For an LBC, c1+ c2=c3
So min (d(c1,c2)) = min (w(c1+ c2)) = min (w(c3))
Therefore to find min Hamming distance just need to
search among the 2k codewords to find the min
Hamming weight far simpler than doing a pair
wise check for all possible codewords.
Linear Block Codes example 1
For example a (4,2) code, suppose;
1 0 1 1 a1 = [1011]
G
0 1 0 1 a2 = [0101]
For d = [1 1], then;
1 0 1 1
0 1 0 1
c
_ _ _ _
1 1 1 0
Linear Block Codes example 2
A (6,5) code with
1 0 0 0 0 1
0 1 0 0 0 1
G 0 0 1 0 0 1
0 0 0 1 0 1
0 0 0 0 1 1
Is an even single parity code
Systematic Codes
For a systematic block code the dataword
appears unaltered in the codeword usually
at the start
The generator matrix has the structure,
k R R=n-k
1 0 .. 0 p11 p12 .. p1R
0 1 .. 0 p21 p22 .. p2 R
G I | P
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
0 0 .. 1 pk1 pk 2 .. pkR
and so,
k k
b j .c b j . d i a i d i (a i .b j ) 0
i 1 i 1
c3
b1
Error Syndrome
For error correcting codes we need a method to
compute the required correction
To do this we use the Error Syndrome, s of a
received codeword, cr
s = crHT
If cr is corrupted by the addition of an error vector,
e, then
cr = c + e
and
s = (c + e) HT = cHT + eHT
s = 0 + eHT
Syndrome depends only on the error
Error Syndrome
That is, we can add the same error pattern to
different codewords and get the same syndrome.
There are 2(n - k) syndromes but 2n error patterns
For example for a (3,2) code there are 2 syndromes and
8 error patterns
Clearly no error correction possible in this case
Another example. A (7,4) code has 8 syndromes and
128 error patterns.
With 8 syndromes we can provide a different value to
indicate single errors in any of the 7 bit positions as
well as the zero value to indicate no errors
Now need to determine which error pattern caused
the syndrome
Error Syndrome
For systematic linear block codes, H is
constructed as follows,
G = [ I | P] and so H = [-PT | I]
where I is the k*k identity for G and the
R*R identity for H
Example, (7,4) code, dmin= 3
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0
1
G I | P
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
1 0
H - P T | I 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1 0 0 1
0 0 0 1 1 1 1
Error Syndrome - Example
For a correct received codeword cr = [1101001]
In this case,
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
s c r H T 1 1 0 1 0 0 11 1 1 0 0 0
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 1
0
Error Syndrome - Example
For the same codeword, this time with an
error in the first bit position, i.e.,
cr = [1101000]
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
s c r H T 1 1 0 1 0 0 01 1 1 0 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 1
0
c1 (all zero) c2 cM s0
e1 c2+e1 cM+e1 s1 All patterns in
e2 c2+e2 cM+e2 s2 row have same
e3 c2+e3 cM+e3 s3 syndrome
Different rows
eN c2+eN cM+eN sN have distinct
syndromes
cr c
+
Standard Array
For the same received codeword c2 + e3, note that the
unique syndrome is s3
This syndrome identifies e3 as the corresponding error
pattern
So if we calculate the syndrome as described
previously, i.e., s = crHT
All we need to do now is to have a relatively small
table which associates s with their respective error
patterns. In the example s3 will yield e3
Finally we subtract (or equivalently add in modulo 2
arithmetic) e3 from the received codeword (c2 + e3) to
yield the most likely codeword, c2
Hamming Codes
We will consider a special class of SEC codes
(i.e., Hamming distance = 3) where,
Number of parity bits R = n k and n = 2R 1
Syndrome has R bits
0 value implies zero errors
2R 1 other syndrome values, i.e., one for each
bit that might need to be corrected
This is achieved if each column of H is a different
binary word remember s = eHT
Hamming Codes
Systematic form of (7,4) Hamming code is,
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0
1
G I | P
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
1 0
H - P T | I 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1 0 0 1
0 0 0 1 1 1 1
e = 0010000
cr= 0100011