Minimum distance analysis of multihead multitrack recording channels

We perform a minimum distance analysis of a class of two-dimensional inter-symbol interference~(ISI) channels applicable to multihead multitrack magnetic recording systems. Exact minimum distance for a wide class of ISI responses is derived. The fundamental analytical technique that we apply is to transform the channel into an equivalent minimum phase channel. When compared with prior related work of Soljanin and Georghiades, the results derived in this paper are more conclusive and improve upon theirs.