Almost any system used in daily life relies on transmitting data. Whether it’s sending a message to a friend, transferring money to a bank account, or streaming a movie on Netflix, data is being transmitted from one point to another. However, data transmission is not always error-free. Errors from both humans and machines are quite common and can occur due to various reasons, including:
• Transposed digits (e.g. when typing an IBAN or an amount of money into a banking app)
• Noise in the communication channel
• Interference in wireless communications
• Hardware malfunctions or software bugs
Although we cannot eliminate the occurrence of errors, true to the motto "Shit happens", we can implement measures to detect these errors and ideally correct them without having to retransmit the corrupted data, a process known as Forward Error Correction (FEC).
These measures range from simple methods such as checksums implemented in numbers used every day (e.g., IBAN, ISBN, EAN) to complex algorithms like Reed-Solomon codes used in communication systems and storage devices. For instance, the ability to correct errors allows data on a CD, which may be partly corrupted due to physical scratches, to be reconstructed, and ensures that QR codes remain scannable and decodable even when partially soiled or illegible.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- »Shit happens!«
- Approach of Researching
- Redundancy & Data Integrity
- Redundancy.
- Data Integrity.
- Error Detection
- Prerequisites
- Parity Check
- Cyclic Redundancy Check
- Calculation
- Detecting errors
- Summary
- Error Correction
- Prerequisites
- Geometric illustration
- Two-dimensional parity
- (7,4)-Hamming-Code.
- Outlook
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This paper aims to explore the concept of redundancy and data integrity, with a particular focus on error detection and correction techniques. The paper investigates how redundancy is utilized to ensure data integrity and discusses the trade-off between information rate and error detection/correction capabilities.
- The nature and purpose of redundancy in data transmission.
- The importance of data integrity in various applications.
- Error detection techniques, including parity checks and Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRCs).
- The role of error correction in ensuring data reliability.
- The trade-off between redundancy and data transmission rate.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- »Shit happens!«: Introduces the concept of data transmission errors and the need for error detection and correction mechanisms. This chapter highlights the importance of these mechanisms in various applications and the trade-off between redundancy and data transmission rate.
- Approach of Researching: Explains the methodology used for researching and compiling information for the paper. The chapter describes the various sources consulted, including books, articles, lecture notes, and AI tools.
- Redundancy & Data Integrity: Defines the concepts of redundancy and data integrity, exploring their significance in ensuring the reliability of data transmission. The chapter differentiates between desired and undesired redundancy and clarifies the relationship between data integrity and data security.
- Error Detection: Provides an overview of error detection techniques, emphasizing the importance of error-detecting codes and parity bits. The chapter discusses the basics of parity checks and introduces the more advanced Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) technique, which is widely used in data communication.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The key concepts explored in this paper include redundancy, data integrity, error detection, error correction, parity checks, Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRCs), data transmission, information rate, fault tolerance, data security, and codewords.
- Quote paper
- Niklas Haug (Author), 2024, Redundancy at information and data level, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1495617
