A class of error-locating codes for byte-organized memory systems

Error-locating codes (EL codes), first proposed by J.K. Wolf and B. Elspas in 1963, have the potential to be used to identify the faulty module for fault isolation and reconfiguration in fault-tolerant computer systems. This paper proposes a new class of EL codes suitable for memory systems organized with b-bit (b⩾2) byte-organized semiconductor memory chips that are mounted on memory cards each having B-bit width. The proposed linear code, called the S_bB/EL code, identifies erroneous memory card locations containing a faulty byte-organized chip. Another linear code proposed in this paper, the SEC-S_bB/EL code, corrects single-bit errors induced by alpha particles and, for byte errors, it locates erroneous card positions containing a faulty chip. This paper describes design methods of the proposed codes and shows an evaluation of the decoding hardware and the error detection capabilities