A Study of TDMR for Magnetic Tape Systems

Multiple-input single-output two-dimensional magnetic recording gain in a magnetic tape system was studied under the condition where the bit aspect ratio is 22%-37% compared to current tape systems. The performance was mainly evaluated in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) cross-track profile utilizing a 2-D read-back signal synthesized from the waveform acquired with a conventional single-reader tape head. The results show that, depending on the reader pitch selected, either significant gain in tracking margin up to 215% compared to the traditional 1-D signal-processing scheme or an additional SNR gain accompanied with a moderate increase in approximately 30% in tracking margin can be achieved by utilizing the 2-D equalization.