On the concatenation of LDPC and RS codes in magnetic recording systems

In this paper, we investigate the sector failure rate (SFR) and the burst-error correction capability of two coding solutions in magnetic storage systems. The two-level solution involves concatenating an outer RS code with an inner LDPC code whereas the one-level solution is an RS-only or an LDPC-only system. Although the outer RS code incurs an additional rate loss, it is expected to gain in the presence of burst errors. The rate of the LDPC code and the i-level of the RS code can be chosen optimally to suit the operating condition of the channel. These solutions have also been studied in various technical papers in literature. Previously mentioned performance measures are used to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of these two solutions.