Digital signal processing
(DSP) is concerned with the representation of signals by a sequence
of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing
and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing. DSP includes subfields
like: audioand speech signal processing, sonar and radar signal processing, sensor array
processing, spectral estimation, statistical signal processing,digital image processing, signal
processing for communications, control of systems, biomedical signal processing, seismic data
processing, etc.
The goal of DSP is usually to measure, filter and/or compress continuous real-world analog
signals. The first step is usually to convert the signal from an analog to a digital form,
by sampling it using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), which turns the analog signal into a
stream of numbers. However, often, the required output signal is another analog output signal,
which requires a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Even if this process is more complex than
analog processing and has a discrete value range, the application of computational power to
digital signal processing allows for many advantages over analog processing in many
applications, such as error detection and correction in transmission as well as data
compression.[1]
DSP algorithms have long been run on standard computers, on specialized processors
called digital signal processors (DSPs), or on purpose-built hardware such as application-
specific integrated circuit (ASICs). Today there are additional technologies used for digital signal
processing including more powerful general purpose microprocessors, field-programmable gate
arrays (FPGAs), digital signal controllers(mostly for industrial apps such as motor control),
and stream processors, among others.[2]
Applications
The main applications of DSP are audio signal processing, audio compression, digital image
processing, video compression, speech processing, speech recognition, digital
communications, RADAR, SONAR, seismology, and biomedicine. Specific examples
are speech compression and transmission in digital mobile phones, room correction of sound
in hi-fi and sound reinforcement applications, weather forecasting, economic
forecasting, seismic data processing, analysis and control of industrial processes, medical
imaging such as CATscans and MRI, MP3 compression, computer graphics, image
manipulation, hi-fi loudspeaker crossovers and equalization, and audio effectsfor use
with electric guitar amplifiers.