HIGH DENSITY PCM MAGNETIC TAPE RECORDING

Abstract

The Bell & Howell Enhanced-NRZ™ recording reproducing technique for bit packing densities up to 40,000 per track inch is described in this paper. Utilization of the pulse code modulation format of Enhanced-NRZ achieves this high density with a bit error rate of one in ten million. Bell & Howell’s standard VR-3700B instrumentation tape recorder and wideband instrumentation recording tape are used. This same technique permits parallel recording of data rates up to 10 megabits per second at a tape speed of 120 in./s. The merits of the unique encoding/decoding method, factors affecting bit error rate, and future opportunities for development are discussed.