Viterbi detector architectures for magnetic recording

Viterbi detectors are at the heart of the data detection in magnetic recording. They are used to detect the user bits read from the disk that are impaired by intersymbol interference and noise. However, the non-linear, recursive nature of the Viterbi algorithm makes the implementation for magnetic recording with data throughputs in excess of 1 Gb/s non-trivial. This paper will survey various Viterbi detector architectures that allow keeping pace with the speed dynamics of the storage industry.