Horizontal-vertical parity and diagonal hamming based soft error detection and correction for memories

Abstract

External radiations create soft errors which are turning into an undeniable critical issue. Customarily, Single Error Correction (SEC) code which can detect and correct 1-bit error per memory word is used to rectify soft errors. As errors turn out to be more common, the SEC methodology becomes inefficient. In this paper, Horizontal-Vertical Parity and Diagonal Hamming (HVPDH) method is proposed for detection of up to 8-bit errors and correction of 1-bit error, all combinations of 2-bit errors and most combinations of 3, 4 and 5-bit errors for memories. The aim here is to incorporate an encoder and decoder which will be effective in detecting and correcting errors. The encoder and decoder use three parity sets, namely horizontal, vertical and grouped diagonal Hamming parities. As per the analysis, higher code rate is achieved by using HVPDH method in memories when compared to the existing methods.