Error Rate Expression for Perpendicular Magnetic Recording

An expression for estimating error rate in a perpendicular magnetic recording system is developed. The probability of error is estimated for a dominant dibit error event. Noise includes stationary white Gaussian head/electronics noise and nonstationary colored medium transition noise. Error rate is determined for a variety of parameter changes. In particular, it is shown how two systems with the same total signal-to-noise ratio can have different error rates. Expansion of the model to include additional signal and noise effects as well as the evaluation of different error events is discussed.