Multiple-Error-Correcting Codes for Analog Computing on Resistive Crossbars

Error-correcting codes over the real field are studied which can locate outlying computational errors when performing approximate computing of real vector–matrix multiplication on resistive crossbars. Prior work has concentrated on locating a single outlying error and, in this work, several classes of codes are presented which can handle multiple errors. It is first shown that one of the known constructions, which is based on spherical codes, can in fact handle multiple outlying errors. A second family of codes is then presented with 0–1 parity-check matrices which are sparse and disjunct; such matrices have been used in other applications as well, especially in combinatorial group testing. In addition, a certain class of the codes that are obtained through this construction is shown to be efficiently decodable. As part of the study of sparse disjunct matrices, this work also contains improved lower and upper bounds on the maximum Hamming weight of the rows in such matrices.