Data link layer

Error Detection and Correction

1. Error Detection and Correction
• Networks must be able to transfer data from
one device to another with acceptable
accuracy.
• Any time data are transmitted from one node
to the next, they can become corrupted in
passage.
• Many factors can alter one or more bits of a
message.
• Some applications require a mechanism for
detecting and correcting errors.
• Some applications can tolerate a small level of
error. For example, random errors in audio or
video transmissions may be tolerable,
• For transfer text, very high level of accuracy
is expected.
Types of Errors
Single-Bit Error
• The term single-bit error means that only 1 bit
of a given data unit (such as a byte, character,
or packet) is changed from 1 to 0 or from 0 to
1.
• 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.
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 2 or more bits in the data unit
have changed from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1.
• A burst error 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.

Burst error of length 8

• A burst error is more likely to occur than a single-
bit error.
• The duration of noise is normally longer than the
duration of 1 bit, which means that when noise
affects data, it affects a set of bits.
• The number of bits affected depends on the data
rate and duration of noise.
• For example, if data is sent at 1 kbps, a noise of
1/100 s. How many data bits are affected?
10 bits(1/100*1000)
• If we are sending data at 1 Mbps, how many data
bits are affected by the same noise?
10,000 bits.(1/100*1000000)
Redundancy
• The central concept in detecting or correcting
errors is redundancy.
• To be able to detect or correct errors, extra bits
are added.
• These redundant bits are added by the sender
and removed by the receiver.
• Their presence allows the receiver to detect or
correct corrupted bits.
Detection vs Correction
• Error detection is to see if the data is error has
occurred or no.
• Error correction is to know exact number of
bits that are corrupted, their location in the
message.
Forward Error Correction(FEC) vs
Retransmission
• Two methods for error correction:
– FEC- Guess the message by using redundant bits.
– Retransmission- Resending entire message.
Coding
• Redundancy is achieved through various coding
schemes.
• Coding scheme
– Sender- Create relationship between the actual bits and
redundant bits.
– Receiver- Check the relationship between the two sets
of bits to detect or correct errors.
• The ratio of redundant bits to the data bits and the
robustness of the process are important factors in
any coding scheme.
• Two coding schemes: Block Coding and
Convolution coding
General principle of coding scheme
• In a coding scheme we use modular airthmetic.
• Specifically, modular-2 airthmetic
Block Coding
• The message into blocks, each of k bits, called
datawords.
• r redundant bits to each block to make the length n = k
+ r.
• The resulting n-bit blocks are called codewords.
• With k bits, there are 2k combinations of data words.
• With n bits, there are 2n combinations of code words.
• No. Of codewords > No. Of datawords.
• The same dataword is always encoded as the same
codeword.
• 2n - 2k codewords that are not used- invalid or illegal
codewords.
Data words and codewords in block coding
Error Detection
The receiver can detect a change in the original
codeword if:
1. The receiver has (or can find) a list of valid
codewords.
2. The original codeword has changed to an invalid
one.
Algorithm
1. Create codeword out of dataword using a
generator.
2. Transmit the codeword.
– The data or redundant bits may get corrupted.
3. The receiver checks the codeword for validity.
4. If so, dataword is extracted otherwise the
codeword is discarded.
 If codeword is corrupted it could still match the
valid codeword at the receiver- Error is
undetected.
Example:
Consider K=2, N=3

Sender encodes the dataword 01 as 011 and sends to

the receiver
The various cases could be:
1. The receiver receives 011. It is a valid
codeword. The receiver extracts the dataword
01 from it.
2. The receiver receives 111. This is not a valid
codeword and is discarded.
3. The receiver receives 000. This is valid
codeword, the reveiver extracts 00.
– This was because two bits were corrupted.
Error Correction
• In error correction the receiver needs to find
(or guess) the original codeword sent.
• More redundant bits are needed to correct
errors than to detect.
Example:
K=2, r=3,
n=k+r= 5
(dataword=2bits, codeword=5bits.)
Consider the dataword is 01.
• The sender create the codeword 01011.
• 01001 is received(corrupted).
• At the receiver, he finds that the received
codeword is not in the table.
• The receiver, assuming that there is only 1 bit
corrupted,
– Performs XOR with all codewords in the table.
– (01001 xor 00000= 01001, 01001 xor 01011=00010
– 01001 xor10101= 11100, 01001 xor 11110= 10111)
• The original codeword must be the second one
in the table because this is the only one that
differs from the received codeword by 1 bit.
• The receiver replaces 01001 with 01011 and
consults the table to find the dataword 01.
Hamming Distance
• The Hamming distance between two words (of
the same size) is the number of differences
between the corresponding bits.
• The distance between x and y is represented as
d(x,y).
• Determined by applying XOR operation on two
words and counting number of 1’s.
For Example:
• The Hamming distance d(000, 011) is 2.
• The Hamming distance d(10101, 11110) is 3
Minimum Hamming Distance
• The minimum Hamming distance is the
smallest Hamming distance between all
possible pairs.
• dmin is used to define the minimum Hamming
distance in a coding scheme.
Find dmin of the coding scheme of the table

Dmin is 2.
• A coding scheme C(n,k)is represented with 3
parameters:
– Codeword size-n
– Dataword size- k
– Minimum hamming distance- dmin
For example:
1. C(3,2), dmin is 2.
2. C(5,2), dmin is 3.
Minimum distance for error detection
• To guarantee the detection of up to s errors in all
cases, the minimum Hamming distance in a block
code must be dmin =s + 1.
Minimum distance for error correction
• To guarantee correction of up to t errors in all
cases, the minimum Hamming distance in a block
code must be dmin = 2t + 1.
Example
• A code scheme has a Hamming distance dmin =
4. What is the error detection and correction
capability of this scheme?
• S=3 and t=1.
Linear Block codes
• All block codes are a subset of linear block codes.
• In a linear block code, the exclusive OR (XOR) of any two
valid codewords creates another valid codeword.
Minimum Distance for Linear Block Codes
• Number of 1s in the nonzero valid codeword with the smallest
number of 1s.

• The numbers of 1s in the nonzero codewords are 2, 2,

and 2, theminimum Hamming distance is dmin = 2.
Simple parity check code.
• k-bit dataword is changed to an n-bit codeword
where n = k + 1.
• The extra bit, called the parity bit, is selected
to make the total number of 1s in the codeword
even.
• Create a simple parity check code C(5,4),
determine dmin.
• How many errors can be detected and
corrected?
Simple parity-check code C(5, 4)

• Dmin= 2
• Errors detected=1
• Errors corrected=0
Design
Encoder:
• This is normally done by adding the 4 bits of
the dataword (modulo-2); the result is the
parity bit.
• If the number of 1s is even, the result is 0; if
the number of 1s is odd, the result is 1.
• In both cases, the total number of 1s in the
codeword is even
Generator Function:
r0=a3+a2+a1+a0 mod 2
Decoder:
• The receiver receives a 5-bit word.
• The checker performs addition is over all 5
bits.
• The result, is called the syndrome, is 1 bit.
• The syndrome is 0 when the number of 1s in
the received codeword is even; otherwise, it is
1.
s0=b3+b2+b1+b0+q0 mod2
• The syndrome is passed to the decision logic
analyzer
Decision Logic
• If the syndrome is 0, there is no detectable
error in the received codeword.
• The data portion of the received codeword is
accepted as the dataword.
• If the syndrome is 1, the data portion of the
received codeword is discarded and the
dataword is not created.
Test Cases:
• The sender sends the dataword 1011. The codeword created from
this dataword is 10111, which is sent to the receiver.
1. No error occurs: the received codeword is 10111. The syndrome
is 0. The dataword 1011 is created.
2. One single-bit error changes a1: The received codeword is
10011. The syndrome is 1. No dataword is created.
3. One single-bit error changes r0. The received codeword is 10110.
The syndrome is 1. No dataword is created.
A parity-check code can detect an odd
4. An error changes r0 and a second error numberchanges a3. The
of errors.
received codeword is 00110. The syndrome is 0. The dataword
0011 is created at the receiver. Note that here the dataword is
wrongly created due to the syndrome value.
*The simple parity-check decoder cannot detect an even number of
errors.
*The errors cancel each other out and give the syndrome a value of 0.
5. Three bits—a3, a2, and a1—are changed by errors. The received
codeword is 01011. The syndrome is 1. The dataword is not created.
*This shows that the simple parity check, guaranteed to detect one
single error, can also find any odd number of errors.
• A better approach is the two-dimensional
parity check.
• In this method, the dataword is organized in a
table (rows and columns).
• The data to be sent, five 7-bit bytes, are put in
separate rows.
• For each row and each column, 1 parity-check
bit is calculated.
• The whole table is then sent to the receiver,
which finds the syndrome for each row and
each column.
Hamming Codes
• These are error correcting codes.
• These codes were originally designed with dmin
= 3, which means that they can detect up to two
errors or correct one single error.
Concept:
• Choose an integer m>=3, values of n and k are
calculated from m as n=2m-1. k= n-m.
• The number of redundant bits r=m.
For example:
If m =3, then n = 7 and k= 4.
This is a Hamming code C(7, 4) with dmin =3.
Encoder:
• A copy of a 4-bit dataword is fed into the
generator that creates three parity checks r0, r1
and r2 as shown below:
r0=a2+a1+a0 mod 2
r1 =a3 + a2 + a1 mod 2
r2=a1+a0+a3 mod 2
• Each of the parity-check bits handles 3 out of the
4 bits of the dataword.
• Any three equations that involve 3 of the 4 bits in
the dataword and create independent equations.
Hamming code C(7,3)
Encoder and decoder
Decoder
• The checker in the decoder creates a 3-bit
syndrome (s2 s1 s0) in which each bit is the
parity check for 4 out of the 7 bits in the
received codeword:
s0=b2+b1+b0 +q0 mod 2
s1 =b3 + b2 + b1 +q1 mod 2
s2=b1+b0+b3+q2 mod 2
Logical decision made by the correction logic
analyzer a decoder.
Cyclic codes
• Cyclic codes are special linear block codes
with one extra property.
• In a cyclic code, if a codeword is cyclically
shifted (rotated), the result is another
codeword.
• For example, if 1011000 is a codeword and we
cyclically left-shift, then 0110001 is also a
codeword.
Cyclic redundancy check
• Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) that is used in
networks such as LANs and WANs are error
correcting codes.
Encoder and Decoder
Encoder
• In the encoder, the dataword has k bits (4 here).
• The codeword has n bits (7 here).
• The size of the dataword is augmented by adding n - k
(3 here) Os to the right-hand side of the word.
• The n-bit result is fed into the generator.
• The generator uses a divisor of size n - k + 1 (4 here),
predefined and agreed upon.
• The generator divides the augmented dataword by the
divisor (modulo-2 division).
• The quotient of the division is discarded, the remainder
(r2r1 r0) is appended to the dataword to create the
codeword.
Decoder
• The decoder receives the possibly corrupted
codeword.
• A copy of all n bits is fed to the checker which is
a replica of the generator.
• The remainder produced by the checker is a
syndrome of n - k (3 here) bits, which is fed to the
decision logic analyzer.
• The analyzer checks the syndrome bits are all 0s,
the 4 leftmost bits of the codeword are accepted
as the dataword (interpreted as no error);
• Otherwise, the 4 bits are discarded (error).
Encoder
Decoder
Polynomial representation
• A better way to understand cyclic codes and
how they can be analyzed is to represent them
as polynomials.

• The degree of a polynomial is the highest

power in the polynomial
CRC division using polynomials
• The divisor in a cyclic code is normally called the
generator polynomial or simply the generator.
Note:
A good polynomial generator needs to have the
following characteristics:
1. It should have at least two terms.
2. The coefficient of the term x0 should
be 1.
3. It should not divide xt + 1, for t
between 2 and n − 1.
4. It should have the factor x + 1.
Standard Polynomials
Checksum
• It is an error detection method
• The checksum is used in the Internet by several
protocols although not at the data link layer.
• At the source, the message is first divided into m-
bit units.
• The generator then creates an extra m-bit unit
called the checksum, which is sent with the
message.
• At the destination, the checker creates a new
checksum from the combination of the message
and sent checksum.
• If the new checksum is all 0s, the message is
accepted; otherwise, the message is discarded.
Checksum
• A message is a list of five 4-bit numbers that we want
to send to a destination.
Sender
• In addition to sending these numbers, we send the sum
of the numbers.
• For example, if the set of numbers is (7, 11, 12, 0, 6),
we send (7, 11, 12, 0, 6, 36), where 36 is the sum of the
original numbers.
Receiver
• The receiver adds the five numbers and compares the
result with the sum.
• If the two are the same, the receiver assumes no error,
accepts the five numbers, and discards the sum.
• Otherwise, there is an error somewhere and the
message is not accepted.
One’s Complement Addition
• If each number has to be written as a 4-bit word (each
is less than 15) then one’s complement arithmetic is to
be used.
• In this arithmetic, the unsigned numbers are
represented between 0 and 2m − 1 using only m bits.
• If the number has more than m bits, the extra leftmost
bits need to be added to the m rightmost bits
(wrapping).
Example:
• The decimal number 36 in binary is (100100)2. To
change it to a 4-bit number the extra leftmost bits are
added to the right four bits:
(10)2 + (0100)2 = (0110)2
• The complement of the sum is called the checksum.
• In one’s complement arithmetic, the complement of a number
is found by completing all bits (changing all 1s to 0s and all 0s
to 1s).
• This is the same as subtracting the number from 2m − 1.
Internet Checksum
• The Internet has been using a 16-bit checksum.
• The sender calculates the checksum by
following these steps.
1. The message is divided into 16-bit words.
2. The value of the checksum word is set to 0.
3. All words including the checksum are
added using one’s complement addition.
4. The sum is complemented and becomes the
checksum.
5. The checksum is sent with the data.
Receiver site
1. The message (including checksum) is
divided into 16-bit words.
2. All words are added using one’s
complement addition.
3. The sum is complemented and becomes the
new checksum.
4. If the value of checksum is 0, the message
is accepted; otherwise, it is rejected.
Calculating checksum for string “Forouzan”
Practise Questions
1. In a block code, a dataword is 20 bits and the
corresponding codeword is 25 bits.What are
the values of k, r, and n.
2. In a codeword, we add two redundant bits to
each 8-bit data word. Find the number of : 1.
valid codewords 2. invalid codewords.
3. If we want to be able to detect two-bit
errors, what should be the minimum
Hamming distance?
• In CRC, if the dataword is 5 bits and the codeword
is 8 bits, how many 0s need to be added to the
dataword to make the dividend? What is the size
of the remainder? What is the size of the divisor?
• Assume we are sending data items of 16-bit
length. If two data items are swapped during
transmission, can the traditional checksum detect
this error?
• Given the dataword 101001111 and the divisor
10111, show the generation of the CRC codeword
at the sender site (using binary division).
• A sender has two data items to send: (4567)16
and (BA98)16. What is the value of the
checksum?