Iterative detection/decoding for two-track partial response channels

In this letter, we investigate the iterative detection/decoding algorithms for two-track partial response channels. We first describe the iterative algorithm as an iterative message-passing/processing algorithm over a high-level normal graph and then propose two trellis-based detection algorithms. The natural one is based on a joint trellis, which can be implemented for low-order channels. For moderate-order channels, we propose a separated detection, which is based on two single-track trellises. Compared with the joint detection, the separated detection is simpler in most cases. Simulation results show that, for two-track EPR4 channels with minor intertrack interferences, the separated detection causes only marginal degradation in performance.