Reading of cracked optical discs using Iterative Learning Control

Optical discs, including Compact Discs (CDs), Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), and Blu-ray Discs (BDs), can get cracked during storage and usage. Such cracks commonly lead to discontinuities in the data track, potentially preventing reading of the data on the disc. The aim of the present paper is to improve tracking performance of the optical disc drive in the presence of cracks. A Hankel Iterative Learning Control (ILC) algorithm is presented that can perfectly steer the lens during the crack towards the beginning of the track immediately after the crack, i.e., the actuator is steered appropriately during the crack crossing to compensate for the discontinuity in the data track. Experimental results confirm improved reading capabilities of cracked discs. The presented approach potentially enables the recovery of data from cracked discs that were previously considered as unreadable.