Types of Errors

Single-Bit Error

A single-bit error refers to a type of data transmission error that occurs when one bit (i.e., a single binary digit) of a transmitted data unit is altered during transmission, resulting in an incorrect or corrupted data unit.

Multiple-Bit Error

A multiple-bit error is an error type that arises when more than one bit in a data transmission is affected. Although multiple-bit errors are relatively rare when compared to single-bit errors, they can still occur, particularly in high-noise or high-interference digital environments.

Burst Error

When several consecutive bits are flipped mistakenly in digital transmission, it creates a burst error. This error causes a sequence of consecutive incorrect values.

To detect errors, a common technique is to introduce redundancy bits that provide additional information. Various techniques for error detection include::

1. Simple Parity Check
2. Two-dimensional Parity Check
3. Checksum
4. Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)
    

Error is a condition when the receiver’s information does not match the sender’s information. During transmission, digital signals suffer from noise that can introduce errors in the binary bits traveling from sender to receiver. That means a 0 bit may change to 1 or a 1 bit may change to 0. 

Data (Implemented either at the Data link layer or Transport Layer of the OSI Model) may get scrambled by noise or get corrupted whenever a message is transmitted. To prevent such errors, error-detection codes are added as extra data to digital messages. This helps in detecting any errors that may have occurred during message transmission.