Re: [NTLK] [OT] Trinary logic (was Linux on a PDA - Come on people!)

From: Richard G. DAVIS (msys1_at_charter.net)
Date: Wed Jan 23 2002 - 13:28:23 EST


on 1/23/02 12:04 PM, Eric L. Strobel at fyzycyst_at_home.com wrote:

>
> at the temporal coordinates: 1/23/02 11:56 AM, the entity known as Richard
> G. DAVIS at msys1_at_charter.net conveyed the following:
>
>>
>> on 1/23/02 10:47 AM, Zachery Bir at zbir_at_urbanape.com wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Wednesday, January 23, 2002, at 10:34 , Ed Kummel wrote:
>>>
>>>> For instance, forget binary computing...how about
>>>> "trinary?" three states, on, off and maybe...
...
....
>>>
>>
>> Trinary state devices are available in the market. Try Motorola for a good
>> line of devices that have been in the market for a number of years.
...
....
>> Remember in a serial bit stream, if it is binary coded data, then in any
>> instant in time the probability that the observed data is wrong is 50%. For
>> trinary coded data, the probability of an instantaneous error is reduced to
>> 33%.
>>
>> That may not seem like much, but in an intrinsically highly noisy
>> application, going from binary to trinary data coding can significantly
>> improve the noise immunity of the overall system. So, don't dismiss the
>> idea of trinary coded data without considering that alternative.
>>
>
> So, would that be used in rad-hard devices? The recent Galileo upset at a
> most inopportune time (30 min before Io flyby) brings this to mind.
>
> - Eric.

Where ever reliability should be elevated to the highest possible level, and
where there is the expectation that the data stream will be subject to
significantly high noise levels, then the choice of trinary state devices
would be a prudent means of mitigating the impact of those noisy conditions.

I don't know anything about the disrupted Galileo mission, so I have no
speculation on that case.

Regards,

Richard.

-- 
Richard Davis
Mformation SYStems Company

tel: 508-869-6976 fax: 508-869-6008 e-mail: msys1_at_charter.net

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