Editing Bit error rate (section)

==Factors affecting the BER==
In a communication system, the receiver side BER may be affected by transmission channel [[noise (telecommunications)|noise]], [[interference (communication)|interference]], [[distortion]], [[bit synchronization]] problems, [[attenuation]], wireless [[Multipath propagation|multipath]] [[fading]], etc.

The BER may be improved by choosing a strong signal strength (unless this causes cross-talk and more bit errors), by choosing a slow and robust [[modulation]] scheme or [[line coding]] scheme, and by applying [[channel coding]] schemes such as redundant [[forward error correction]] codes.

The ''transmission BER'' is the number of detected bits that are incorrect before error correction, divided by the total number of transferred bits (including redundant error codes). The ''information BER'', approximately equal to the '''decoding error probability''', is the number of decoded bits that remain incorrect after the error correction, divided by the total number of decoded bits (the useful information). Normally the transmission BER is larger than the information BER. The information BER is affected by the strength of the forward error correction code.