3.

Error Control
 3.1 Introduction

The errors in data transmission are caused by noise, intersymbol interference

and timing jitter.

In 1948 Shannon demonstrated that by proper encoding of the information,

errors induced by a noisy channel (or storage medium) could be reduced to any
desired level without sacrificing the rate of information transmission.
 3.1 Introduction (contin.)

The channel encoder transforms the information sequence u into

a discrete encoded sequence v, called a code word. The channel
decoder transforms the received sequence r into a binary sequence
u* called the estimated sequence.

The decoding strategy is based on the rules of channel encoding

and the noise characteristics of the channel.

There are two main categories of codes:

block codes and
convolutional codes.
 3.1 Introduction (contin.)
Block codes:
the information sequence is divided into message blocks of k information
bits each.

Let u = (u1, u2, ...., uk) a message. There are 2k different possible messages.

The encoder transforms each message u independently into an n-tuple v =

(v1, v2, ...., vn), n>k, called a code word. There are 2k different code words.

This set of 2k code words of length n is called an (n, k) block code.

The ratio R=k/n is called code rate.

Since the n-symbol output code word depends only on the corresponding k-
bit input message, the encoder is memoryless.

n−k bits (redundant bits) are added to each message to form a code word.
 3.1 Introduction (contin.)
Block codes:

Channel
Message block Codeword
encoder
k bits n bits

n-k Redundant bits

∆k
R = <1 Code rate
n
 3.1 Introduction (contin.)

(n, k, m) Convolutional code:

The n−k redundant bits added to a k-bit message depend not only on
these k bits but also on m previous message blocks.

Hence the encoder has a memory order of m.

 3.1 Introduction (contin.)

Types of errors.
On memoryless channels, each transmitted symbol is affected
independently by the noise → random errors;
On channels with memory the transmission errors occur in clusters →
burst errors, because of the high probability of error when the channel
is in a bad state (for example a “deep fade” caused by multipath
transmission on radio channels, or impulsive switching noise and
crosstalk on telephone channels);

Codes elaborated to correct different types of errors are called:

random-correcting codes (for random errors);
burst-error-correcting codes (for burst errors).
 3.1 Introduction (contin.)

Error control strategies.

If the transmission system is an one-way system (the transmission is

strictly in one direction, from transmitter to receiver), the error control
must be accomplished using forward error correction (FEC), that is, by
employing error-correcting codes that automatically correct errors
detected at the receiver (ex. satellites and deep-space transmissions).
These codes are used even the channel is not strictly one-way.

When the transmission system is two-way, the error control can be

accomplished using error detection and retransmission, called automatic
repeat request (ARQ). In an ARQ system, when errors are detected at
the receiver, a request is sent for transmitter to repeat the message.