Soft-Output Decoding in Multiple-Head MTR Encoded Magnetic Recording Systems

We present an approach for the soft-output decoding in multiple-head maximum-transition-run (MTR) encoded digital magnetic recording systems. The log-likelihood ratio (LLR) algebra implementation in Boolean logic mappings has been used to propagate the soft-output information through the MTR decoder. MTR code is employed as inner code in concatenation with low-density parity-check (LDPC) in two-track two-head E2PR4 partial response (PR) magnetic recording channel. The overall decoding complexity reduction is offered by proposed simulation scheme, while nearly 1.9dB coding gain is obtained with soft-output decoding on AWGN channel.