2023/02/26 by Philip Koopman, Koopman, Philip
Computer Science · Mathematics · #Algorithm #Algorithms and Data Compression #Block (permutation group theory) #Block size #Byte #Checksum #Computer hardware #Computer science #Data Structures and Algorithms (cs.DS) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Mathematics #Modular design #Network Packet Processing and Optimization #Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) #Parallel computing #Software Testing and Debugging Techniques
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2302.13432
openalex publication_date 2023/02/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Checksum algorithms are widely employed due to their use of a simple algorithm with fast computational speed to provide a basic detection capability for corrupted data. This paper describes the benefits of adding the design parameter of increased data block size for modular addition checksums, combined with an empirical approach to modulus selection. A longer processing block size with the right modulus can provide significantly better fault detection performance with no change in the number of bytes used to store the check value. In particular, a large-block dual-sum approach provides Hamming Distance 3-class fault detection performance for many times the data word length capability of previously studied Fletcher and Adler checksums. Moduli of 253 and 65525 are identified as being particularly effective for general-purpose checksum use.