EFM coding: squeezing the last bits

Runlength-limited (RLL) codes have found widespread usage in optical and magnetic recording products. Specifically, the RLL codes EFM and its successor, EFMPlus, are used in the compact discs (CD) and the digital versatile discs (DVD), respectively. EFMPlus offers a 6% increase in storage capacity with respect to EFM. The work reports on the feasibility and limits of EFM like codes that offer an even larger capacity. To this end, we provide an overview of the various limiting factors, such as runlength constraint, dc-content, and code complexity, and outline their relative effect on the code rate. In the second part of the article we show how the performance predicted by the tenets of information theory can be realized in practice. A worked example of a code whose rate is 7.5% larger than EFMPlus, namely a rate 256/476, (d=2, k=15) code, showing a 13 dB attenuation at f/sub b/=10/sup -3/, is given to illustrate the theory.