Communication
Communication
Communication
Data Transmission
Error-checking methods
1. Parity checking
o Used to check whether data has been changed or corrupted following transmission
from one device or medium to another device or medium.
o A byte of data is allocated a parity bit. This is allocated before transmission takes
place, to satisfy the system’s parity. Systems that use even parity have an even
number of 1-bits, and systems that use odd parity have an odd number of 1-bits.
o However, it is not possible to work out the location of error. So, parity bytes are
used:
Each column of bits have a parity bit allocated to it, which is transmitted
at the end.
However, if two of the bits change value following data transmission, it
might be impossible to locate the error.
2. Automatic repeat request (ARQ)
o An acknowledgement sent by the receiver of the data to the sender of the data
indicating whether the data is received correctly. If this is send before a specific
time limit, timeout occurs, which means that the sender sends the message again.
3. Checksum
o Another way to check if data has been changed or corrupted following data
transmission. Data is sent in blocks and an additional value, the checksum, is also
sent at the end of the block data. The checksum can be calculated from the block
data and verified against the one send with it.
4. Echo checking
o The received data is sent back to the sender. The sender compares the two sets of
data to check if any occurred during the transmission process.