Data detection

Abstract

© 2004 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Digital magnetic recording systems transport information from one time to another. In communication society jargon, it is said that recording and reading information back from a (magnetic) medium is equivalent to sending it through a time channel. There are differences between such channels. Namely, in communication systems, the goal is a user error rate of 10−5or 10−6. Storage systems, however, often require error rates of 10−12or better. On the other hand, the common goal is to send the greatest possible amount of information through the channel used. For storage systems, this is tantamount to increasing recording density, keeping the amount redundancy as low as possible, that is, keeping the bit rate per recorded pulse as high as possible. The perpetual push for higher bit rates and higher storage densities spurs a steady increment of the amplitude distortion of many types of transmission and storage channels.