<title>Survey of digital tape transport servo systems</title>

Abstract

As the data storage density continues to grow, high performance tape iransports are needed for fine positioning and transport of the media over the read and write heads. This paper presents a survey of digital tape transport servo systems for four popular types of drives: (i) reel to reel drives; (ii) single cartridge drives; (iii) helical scanning drives; and (iv) belt-driven drives. Concepts behind velocity, tension and tracking control employed in production drives are discussed and references to pertinent research cited. Techniques used to measure error in the parameters under servo control are presented.