List Viterbi Decoding with Continuous Error Detection for Magnetic Recording Channels

D. Petrovic, B. Nikolic, K. Ramchandran,
Globecom’01, San Antonio, TX, November 25-29, 2001, pp. 3007-3011.

The List Viterbi Algorithm (LVA) with an arithmetic coding based continuous error detection (CED) scheme is applied to high-order partial-response magnetic recording channels. Commonly used magnetic recording systems employ distance-enhancing codes along with parity-check post-processors to correct most dominant error events. The system presented here inserts a CED encoder between the outer Reed-Solomon (RS) code and the channel, and utilizes LVA along with CED’s error detection capabilities to improve the performance of the Viterbi decoder. Simulations show that this system results in a 2 dB improvement over MTR encoded EEPRML decoding at a BER of 2x10 -6 in additive white Gaussian noise and localizes error occurrences to the end of the sector.