A Study of TDMR Signal Processing Opportunities Based on Quasi-Micromagnetic Simulations

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of the shingled writing process and various signal processing and data detection approaches applied to the readback waveforms. The recording simulations include realistic head fields, a random granular media, magnetostatic and exchange interactions, and a READ head sensitivity function. Readback waveforms are examined in both one and two dimensions in terms of signal characteristics (linear and nonlinear), noise behavior (stationary and signal-dependent), and intertrack interference. Different equalization and detection approaches are compared and about a 10% density gain is reported for such 2-D magnetic recording compared with traditional single-track recording. These gains depend strongly on the number of readers, the reader positioning, and the reader width.