Would you like to know how to transform a computer into a tool for processing music, speech, picture, telecommunication, navigation and medical signals? Often without any additional hardware, simply by using knowledge. Do you know that you cell phone is in fact a computer which executes signal processing software? Or that several hundred million additions and multiplications are performed every second when an ADSL modem or a digital television is used? Answering questions like how is this possible and what knowledge is needed is the purpose of Digital signal processing course.
We will begin with a question what signals are and what mathematical tools are needed to describe them. For signal processing we need discrete systems which transform signals into different forms. We will learn about the most common types of such systems and about methods that give their parameters. We will see how the filters are designed, how the spectrum of a signal is computed, and how a signal that is hidden in the noise can be extracted. Since the speed of computation is extremely important we will search for fast algorithms that allow real time implementations. In the laboratory we will, in addition to the standard computers, use special signal processors on which your solutions to the problems can be tested. Among the problems there are synthesis of string instruments, removal of undesirable echoes, location of the acoustics source in space, speech recognition, and speaker identification.