How to Calculate Bit Error Rate
A bit error rate (BER) calculation represents the percentage of bit errors occurring in a digital data stream, such as Internet or digital telephone signals. Bit errors occur due to noise or distortion in some part of the circuit that causes a "1" to be received as a "0" and vice versa. The existence of bit errors requires that error-checking methods be built into communication systems to detect such problems. Digital transmission-stream quality can be evaluated by comparing the number of bits transmitted per second and the percentage of those bits that must be retransmitted due to errors. Ongoing monitoring of the BER remains an important task in maintaining high quality digital communications.
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Instructions
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Connect a test pattern generator to one side of a communication circuit. Connect a test pattern receiver to the other side of the circuit, setting it evaluate the pattern sent by the generator.
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Read the digital data stream bits received by the test pattern receiver. For example, assume that the ten-bit pattern received reads as follows: 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
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Count the bit errors occurring in the digital data stream produced by the test pattern generator. The example shows three bit errors in a ten-bit pattern at the end of the digital data stream: 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
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Divide the number of bit errors in Step 3 by the total number of sample bits received in Step 2. The result, 30 percent, equals the bit error rate (BER). Because the example digital data stream in Step 3 contains three bit errors, the result indicates that approximately 30 percent of the communications traffic over this circuit contains errors.
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