Editing Partial-response maximum-likelihood (section)

=== Tape recording ===
The first implementation of PRML was shipped in 1984 in the Ampex Digital Cassette Recording System (DCRS). The chief engineer on DCRS was [[Charles Coleman (engineer)|Charles Coleman]]. The machine evolved from a 6-head, transverse-scan, digital [[video tape recorder]]. DCRS was a cassette-based, digital, instrumentation recorder capable of extended play times at very high data-rate.<ref>T. Wood, "[http://www.thic.org/pdf/Oct96/ampex.twood.pdf Ampex Digital Cassette Recording System (DCRS)]", THIC meeting, Ellicott City, MD, 16 Oct., 1996 (PDF)</ref> It became Ampex' most successful digital product.<ref>R. Wood, K. Hallamasek, "[https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102788145 Overview of the prototype of the first commercial PRML channel]", Computer History Museum, #102788145, Mar. 26, 2009</ref>

The heads and the read/write channel ran at the (then) remarkably high data-rate of 117&nbsp;Mbit/s.<ref>C. Coleman, D. Lindholm, D. Petersen, and R. Wood, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20191007051735/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5261308 High Data Rate Magnetic Recording in a Single Channel]", J. IERE, Vol., 55, No. 6, pp. 229-236, June 1985. (invited) (Charles Babbage Award for Best Paper)</ref> The PRML electronics were implemented with four 4-bit, [[Plessey]] [[analog-to-digital converter]]s (A/D) and [https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/fairchild/100k 100k ECL logic].<ref>Computer History Museum, #102741157, "[https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102741157 Ampex PRML Prototype Circuit]", circa 1982</ref> The PRML channel outperformed a competing implementation based on "Null-Zone Detection".<ref>J. Smith, "[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1089924 Error Control in Duobinary Data Systems by Means of Null Zone Detection]", IEEE Trans. Comm., Vil 16, No. 6, pp. 825-830, Dec., 1968</ref> A prototype PRML channel was implemented earlier at 20&nbsp;Mbit/s on a prototype 8-inch HDD,<ref name=8inch>R. Wood, S. Ahlgrim, K. Hallamasek, R. Stenerson, "[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1063460 An Experimental Eight-inch Disc Drive with One-hundred Megabytes Per Surface]", IEEE Trans. Mag., vol. MAG-20, No. 5, pp. 698-702, Sept. 1984. (invited)</ref> but Ampex exited the HDD business in 1985. These implementations and their mode of operation are best described in a paper by Wood and Petersen.<ref>R. Wood and D. Petersen, "[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1096563 Viterbi Detection of Class IV Partial Response on a Magnetic Recording Channel]", IEEE Trans. Comm., Vol., COM-34, No. 5, pp. 454-461, May 1986 (invited)</ref> Petersen was granted a patent on the PRML channel but it was never leveraged by Ampex.<ref>D. Petersen, "[https://patents.google.com/patent/US4504872A/en Digital maximum likelihood detector for class IV partial response]", US Patent 4504872, filed Feb. 8, 1983</ref>