ethernetcodectelecommunication

Why are 4b5b and 8b10b categorised as line code?


I have been reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_code, but it is not obvious to me why 4b5b and 8b10b are called line code. What is the fundamental difference between line code and more sophisticated hamming code?


Solution

  • What is the fundamental difference between line code and more sophisticated hamming code?

    They're both serving entirely different purposes.

    A line code enables clock recovery on a single, serial bit stream and provides bit-level synchronization. It may also provide byte-level synchronization. On differential electrical cabling, the line code (often in combination with a scrambler) also needs to remove DC bias.

    A hamming code adds redundant bits for forward error correction.