On the distribution of the length of bit errors in IP packet headers

This paper concerns itself with the distribution of the length of bit error in IP packet header. In this study, MAC frames (encapsulating the IP packets) are transmitted through an AWGN channel, modulated with BPSK, and at the receiver, the numbers of bit errors found in the header of every IP packets are recorded. The frequency distribution of the length of bit errors is computed and plotted. Result shows that in an un-coded channel, the length of errors that has the highest probability to occur is about 21-bits, and for coded channel, it was about 60-bits. However, the probability of having the 21-bits long bit errors in the un-coded channel is significantly higher than the probability of having the 60-bits long bit errors in the coded channel. For an un-coded channel, bit errors can be found in the header up to +10dB SNR, while in the coded channel, it can be found only up to +6dB SNR. This result is beneficial in deciding on an optimal numbers of redundancy bits needed to protect the IP packet header.