Evaluation of Error Correction Block Encoding for High-Speed HF Data

Error-pattern data gathered from an operational HF digital data transmission system are shown to have characteristics which permit their direct classification into predominantly burst-, random-, and periodic-error categories. These data are useful in a proposed method for effectively evaluating and designing forward error detection and correction devices using interleaving and block error-correcting codes. The method is based on the strategy of transforming channel burst error patterns into easily corrected randomly distributed errors. The measure of randomness of observed errors is established by comparison with distributions of known randomerror data derived from a computer program simulation. A valid method is established which permits the quantitative evaluation of interleaver performance in terms of effective randomization of burst error patterns.