Signal processing and detection for array reader magnetic recording system

With the demands of increasing area density for the hard disk drive system, an array reader magnetic recording (ARMR) system [1][2] has been proposed to use signal processing and detection/ decoding to improve area density in near future before heat-assistant magnetic recording (HAMR) and bit pattern media (BPM) technologies can be mature enough for large volume production. In ARMR systems, two or more readers are used to read signal from one track or multiple tracks simultaneously and joint equalization and detection/decoding schemes can be utilized to achieve significant performance gain. In this paper, we will discuss details on how the loops, joint equalization and detection can be done in the presence of multiple input signals from array readers.