In this paper, we propose a new method to estimate and effectively reduce the effect of thermal asperity (TA) in the perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) channels with the state trellis. The TA is estimated from the state trellis, then its average is used to modify the equalized signal entering the Viterbi detector. For the partial response (PR) targets with DC component, the proposed method with a maximum-likelihood detector can improve the bit error rate performance by more than an order of magnitude when TA occurs and degrades when the giant magneto-resistive (GMR) nonlinearity and base line wander (BLW) effects are present. Unlike the previous studies, this method allows the use of PR targets with DC component under the presence of TA.

The neural network equalization for polytopic multiplexing holography is studied to reduce interpixel interference. The bit error rate performance of the bilinear or bicubic interpolator followed by a neural network as an equalizer is obtained by computer simulation. The results show that the neural network equalizer provides an SNR improvement of about 1.0 dB over conventional equalization.

The previously-proposed model of the writing process in TDMR is modified based on the Stoner-Wohlfarth reversal mechanism. The BER performance for a neuro-ITI canceller is obtained via computer simulation using the R/W channel model based on the writing process, and it is compared to those for well-known TDMR equalization techniques.

Bit-patterned medium (BPM) is one of the promising approaches for ultra-high density magnetic recording systems. However, BPM requires precise write synchronization, and exhibits write-errors due to insufficient write field gradient, medium switching field distribution (SFD), demagnetization field from adjacent islands, and island position variation. In this paper, an iterative decoding system using a non-binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) code is considered for a BPM R/W channel with write-errors at an areal recording density of 2Tbit/inch2 including the coding rate loss. The performance of the iterative decoding system using the non-binary LDPC code over the Galois field GF(28) is evaluated by computer simulation, and it is compared with the conventional iterative decoding system using a binary LDPC code. The results show that the non-binary LDPC system has a larger write margin than the binary LDPC system.

The long-term bit error rate (BER) performance of partial response maximum likelihood (PRML) system using an adaptive equalizer in a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) channel with thermal decay is studied. A thermal decay model based on the experimental data giving the amplitude change of reproducing waveforms with the elapsed time for CoPtCr-SiO2 PMR medium is obtained. The BER performance of PR1ML channel for the 16/17(0,6/6) run-length-limited (RLL) code is evaluated by computer simulation using the model. The relationship between the ratio RJ of the jitter-like media noise power to the total noise power at the reading point and the required SNR to achieve a BER of 10-4 is also obtained and the performance is compared with that of the conventional equalization. The results show that the significant improvement in SNR by utilizing the adaptive equalization is recognized over all RJ compared with the conventional equalization.