Worst case code patterns for magnetic buried servos

A technique for determining worst case run-length-limited (RLL) code patterns for data-to-servo coupling in magnetic buried servos is presented. The problem is reduced to a general dynamic programming problem, whose solution is described. The general problem can require large amounts of computation, so a method is also developed to determine approximate worst case patterns by solving a classical dynamic programming problem using the Viterbi algorithm. An error estimate for the approximate solution is also derived. Computational results are presented for the