Digital Signal Processing
Hard Drive Recovery - Digital Signal Processing
Digital signal processing (DSP) is the representation of the signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing and analog signal processing are sub-segments of signal processing.
DSP includes subfields like audio and speech signal processing, sonar and radar signal processing, sensor array processing, spectral estimation, statistical signal processing, digital image processing, signal processing for communications, biomedical signal processing, seismic data processing, etc.
DSP’s goal is to measure or filter continuous real-world analog signals. The first step is to convert the signal from an analog to a digital form, by using an analog to digital converter.
Often, the required output signal is another analog output signal, which requires a digital to analog converter. The process is more complex than analog processing and has a discrete value range.
DSP algorithms are run on standard computers, on specialized processors called DSPs, or on purpose-built hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits. There are additional technologies used for digital signal processing including more powerful general purpose microprocessors, field-programmable gate arrays, digital signal controllers, and stream processors, among others.
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.
Digital signal processing is often implemented using specialized microprocessors such as the DSP56000, the TMS320, or the SHARC. These often process data using fixed-point arithmetic, although some versions are available which use floating point arithmetic and are more powerful.
For faster applications FPGAs can be used. In 2007, multi-core implementations of DSPs have started to emerge from companies including Freescale and Stream Processors. For faster applications with vast usage, ASICs might be designed specifically. For slow applications, a traditional slower processor such as a microcontroller may be adequate.
