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What about EAC ?

A project log for PEAC Pisano with End-Around Carry algorithm

Add X to Y and Y to X, says the song. And carry on.

yann-guidon-ygdesYann Guidon / YGDES 08/05/2021 at 02:460 Comments

This PEAC algorithm is just a Pisano-type algo, with some added End Around Carry.

As I'm about to test it against other algos, and I have already examined the Pisano/Fibonacci aspect, the EAC side now looks strangely and sadly under-covered. This is an essential sub-system that has deep effects on the behaviour of whatever uses it, so it should be fully characterised.

I have noted before that EAC seems to perform a mod-2^n-1 for very cheap but I suspect there is more to it than that.

 
-o-O-0-O-o-
 

When working with an 8-bit byte, values mod 255 will range from 0 to 254, leaving the value 255 "untouched". This is a weakness because this reduces the odds of detecting an error by 1/256th. OTOH if the checksum is 255 this is a clear sign that something very bad has happened.

With end-around-carry, this range is shifted and now, 0 is the "forbidden value"... If the sum is 256, then the byte wraps around to 0 but the carry is added to give 1. Thus 0 is never encountered, unless the system is initialised to 0 and fed with 0s.

This is an important distinction because PEAC allows 0 as a valid value, while Fletcher does not. As mentioned there, mod and EAC are not the same but have enough similarities that EAC could be studied by going through mod.

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(tbc)

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