Skew Estimation and Compensation in Tape Drives With Flangeless Rollers

Magnetic tape remains the medium of choice for long-term data storage at the lowest possible cost. Moreover, tape-cartridge capacities are expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of about 40%, resulting in a 128 TByte tape-cartridge capacity by 2022, as forecast by the Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC) roadmap [1]. To achieve these capacities in future tape products, the data track width has to be aggressively reduced through ultra-precise tape head positioning.