Aim

The aim of this experiment is to introduce students with the basics of linear block codes. The experiment would begin with an introduction to finite fields, binary arithmetic, and vector spaces, which will be useful for other experiments in this lab as well. We will then introduce the definition of a linear block code and also introduce various associated parameters such as length, dimension, and minimum distance of the code. Finally as an illustration, we will introduce students with two simple yet important examples of linear block codes; repetition (REP) and single parity check (SPC) codes.

The structure of the experiment is as follows:

(1) Preliminaries

• Linear independence

• Vector space

(2) Linear block codes

• Block codes

• Encoding- REP codes

• Encoding- SPC codes

• Majority logic decoding for REP codes

• Error detection for SPC codes