The taps are selected such that an error in a single data bit will cause the maximum possible disruption to the resulting checksum value. There are a variety of standard communications protocols, each of which specifies the number of bits employed in their CRC calculations and the taps to be used. For this reason, CRC calculators typically use a minimum of 16-bits providing 65,536 unique values. However, as the number of bits in a CRC calculator increases, the probability that multiple errors will cause identical checksum values approaches zero. This is due to the fact that a 4-bit LFSR can only represent 16 unique values, which means that there is a significant probability that multiple errors in the data stream could result in the two checksum values being identical. In the real world, a 4-bit CRC calculator would not be considered to provide sufficient confidence in the integrity of the transmitted data. This form of error detection is very efficient in terms of the small number of bits that have to be transmitted in addition to the data. Once all of the data bits have arrived, the receiver compares its internally generated checksum value with the checksum sent by the transmitter to determine whether any corruption occurred during the course of the transmission. The receiver contains an identical CRC calculator and generates its own checksum value from the incoming data. After all of the data bits have been transmitted, the transmitter sends its checksum value to the receiver. The final CRC value stored in the LFSR is known as a checksum, and is dependent on every bit in the data stream. Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) calculations. The stream of data bits being transmitted is used to modify the values fed back into an LFSR ( Fig 2 ).Ģ. Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) applicationsĪ traditional application for LFSRs is in cyclic redundancy check (CRC) calculations, which can be used to detect errors in data communications.

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