Low-complexity Viterbi detection for a family of partial response systems

Viterbi detection combined with class IV partial response (PR) equalization has been used in commercial magnetic disk drive products. The use of PR models of the form (1-D) (1+D)ⁿ where n>1 could potentially result in even higher storage densities. However, the computational complexity of the corresponding Viterbi decoders has hindered the use of such models in practice. The authors develop a novel decoding algorithm for PR systems of the above form which achieves near-optimal performance but requires less computation than Viterbi detection