CRC Polynomials Evaluation Software

Philip Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University

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This is a C++ program that computes the maximum length achievable at a particular HD for a given CRC polynomial. It also computes examples codewords to show why the HD cannot be achieved at longer dataword lengths than computed.

• Directory save with test script: hdlen.tar.gz -- See the readme.1st file for info.

Program Usage Examples

• ./hdlen <file.txt

  • No parameters performs entire HD profile analysis of inputs.
  • Example gives entire HD profile of hexadecimal polynomials in the file "file.txt" with one polynomial per line of the input file. Also works with interactive input (stdin).

• ./hdlen 0x82608edb

  • One parameter performs entire HD profile analysis of polyonmial given on command line
  • Gives entire HD profile of CRC-32, which results in:
    0x82608edb {4294967263,91607,2974,268,171,91,57,34,21,12,10,10,10}

• ./hdlen 6 8 <file.txt

  • Two parameters performs partial HD profile analysis of inputs.
  • Gives partial HD profile (HD=6, HD=7, HD=8) of hexadecimal polynomials in the file "file.txt" with one polynomial per line of the input file. Also works with interactive input (stdin).

• ./hdlen 0x82608edb 5 7

  • Three parameters performs partial HD profile analysis of polyonmial given on command line.
  • Gives partial HD profile of CRC-32 (HD=5, HD=6, HD=7), which results in:
    0x82608edb {?,?,2974,268,171,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?}

Note: all polynomials are in implicit +1 format.

Interpreting Program Output:

• # 0xea HD=3 len=85 Example: Len=86 {0} (0x80) (Bits=2)
  • This polynomial has HD=3 up to and including dataword length 85.
  • An example of a codeword that violates HD=3 is as follows:
    • Length of dataword is 86 (codeword is therefore 86+8=94 bits long). The example length is always one bit longer than the maximum HD dataword length shown (i.e., 85+1=86). The last line of the per-HD data has a length of NONE, providing an example showing that the indicated HD cannot be supported by the polynomial at any length.
    • Bit 0 is set (note that dataword bits are numbered 0..85). This is the first bit in the dataword, making it the bit furthest away from the FCS field. In other words, this bit has been cycled through a CRC shift register 86 times. The examples always have bit 0 set.
    • The FCS from computing the CRC for this dataword is 0x80. In other words, this is the residual CRC computation value after computing the CRC over an 86 bit data word with all zeros except the first bit (bit 0)
    • There are two bits set in this codeword (one bit from {0} plus one bit in the FCS value of 0x80=two bits), confirming HD=2 for this codeword
• 0xea {85,85,2,2}
  • 0xea is the polynomial
  • {85,85,2,2} is the list of all lengths, and is a summary of the preceding lines.
  • A "?" means that a particular HD length was not computed as a result of using the min/max HD input parameters

Program Usage Notes:

While significant effort has been spent on ensuring accuracy, USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. All warranties and assurances of fitness for purpose are disclaimed. In particular, this code has NOT been developed to safety critical software standards. You have the source code, so if you want to use this to validate CRC performance you should first assure yourself that you trust the source code. If someone has the resources and team depth to certify this code to an appropriate SIL I'd be delighted to redistribute that code. All that having been said, if you find a bug let me know and I'll look into it as I have time.

This web page and all data files are Copyrighted 2015-2023 by Philip Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Please note that if any data errors or other issues are identified they will be updated at this page, but not necessarily anywhere that has copied these results. Therefore, you should always confirm at this URL: http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/crc/ that you have the most current version of data before using it.

Change log:

• 7/26/2015: Version 1.0.0 and test files released
• 8/27/2016: Version 1.1.0 and test files released; updated for C++11 and compiles clean with additional warning flags enabled.
• 1/6/2019: Version 1.1.1 update to avoid initialization bug in HDLen::HDLen(Poly_t poly) that was only affecting code compiled on some compilers but not others.
• 12/28/2023: Version 2.0.0 significant speed upgrade by using a hash table; general code cleanup.