RUN LENGTH SYNCHRONIZATION TECHNIQUES
J T Barrows · 1969
Abstract : An important aspect of digital communications is the problem of determining efficient methods for acquiring block synchronization. In this paper we consider a sync technique based on the recognition of successive error- free digits from a known sequence. The analysis of this technique draws from the theory of success runs. This theory is reviewed, and a simple recurrence relation is developed for computing the probability of the first occurrence of an error-free run of r digits in a binary sequence corrupted by noise. This relation is then applied to the analysis of the sync process, which utilizes an N-digit sync sequence as prefix to the data blocks. The results of this study show that this technique is a practical method for acquiring block synchronization.