A read channel for magnetic recording: Recording physics and organization of data on a disk

Abstract

© 2002 by CRC Press LLC. A steady increase in recording densities and data rates of magnetic hard drives during last 15 years are mostly due to advances in recording materials, read/write heads, and mechanical designs. The role of signal processing and coding has been to make the best use of the capacity and speed potentials offered by these advances. As the recording technology matures, the read channel is becoming more and more advanced, reaching the point where it uses equally or even more complicated signal processing, coding and modulation algorithms than any other telecommunication channel and where, due to the speed, power consumption, and cost requirements, the challenges in implementing new architectures and designs have been pushed to today’s integrated circuit manufacturing technology limits.