Concepts, implications and applications of error detection

All error-detection schemes rely on either additional information being added (parity, CRC), data being in a specific format (Checksum) or checking for variations between multiple copies.

What is important is that with the exception of sending multiple copies and using a majority vote to reconstruct the original data, an error detection system can not correct errors: all it can do is inform that something has gone wrong during the transmission process.

Error-checking is used widely across many types of application:

• On hard drives to ensure integrity of saved files
• When keying in card details
• On ISBN numbers on books
• When sending data over a network
• When verifying downloaded files