Lecture-7

Distance properties of Block Codes (cond..)

Minimum Distance Decoding

Some bounds on the Code size

A block code can be specified by (n, k, dmin)

Fact: The minimum distance of a code determines its error-detecting ability and error-correcting ability. d (Good Error correction capability) but k / n (Low rate)

Error detection
Let c be the transmitted codeword and let r be the received n-tuple. We call the distance d(c; r) the weight of the error. let c1; c2 be two closest code words. If c1 is transmitted but c2 is received, then an error of weight dmin has occurred that cannot be detected. If the no. of errors < dmin , syndrome will have non zero weight error detection possible. (n, k, dmin) LBC can detect (dmin 1) number of errors per code word.

Error correction
A block code is a set of M vectors in an ndimensional space with geometry defined by Hamming distance. The optimal decoding procedure is often nearest-neighbour decoding: the received vector r is decoded to the nearest codeword.

Error correction-contd

Contd.

Error correction-contd
Code words-center of a sphere of radius t` The spheres" of radius t` surrounding the code words do not overlap. When t` errors occur, the decoder can unambiguously decide which codeword was transmitted. Using nearest-neighbour decoding, errors of weight t` can be corrected if and only if (2t` + 1) dmin 1) .

Error correction-contd
(n, k, dmin) LBC can detect (dmin 1) number of errors and correct up to (dmin 1)/2 per code word. In general ed + ec dmin 1.

Singleton bound
Another Proof: Write G=[ Ik P]

Ik contributes 1 to wmin. P contributes at most n - k to w min. Hence the bound is satisfied

Hamming Codes

 Problem: Design a LBC with dmin 3 for some block length n = 2m - 1. If dmin = 3, then every pair of columns of H is independent. i.e., for binary code, this requires only that no two columns are equal; all columns are nonzero.

Hamming codes-contd
Let the H matrix has m rows. Each column is an m-bit number.There are 2m -1 possible columns. This defines a (2m 1, 2m 1-m) code. The minimum weight is 3 and the code can correct single error per code word.

New Codes from Existing Codes

New Codes from Existing Codes

How? Adding a check symbol expands a code. Adding an info symbol lengthens a code. Dropping a check symbol punctures a code. Dropping an info symbol shortens a code.

Expansion
Consider a binary (n; k) code with odd minimum distance dmin . Add one additional position which checks (even) parity on all n positions. The dimension k of the code is unchanged. dmin increases by one. The code length n increases by one. As an example of an expanded code, consider (2m, 2m 1- m) Hamming code with dmin = 4: