My hope is that this book helps you learn DSP.When I first tried to learn DSP it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was a period of understanding, it was a period of confusion, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, I had everything before me, I had nothing before me, I was approaching enlightenment, I was doomed to ignorance. There were kings of DSP with large jaws and mathematical minds on their thrones in universities and industry research centers bestowing their knowledge in cryptic form. In both places it was clearer than crystal to the lords of technology, that things in general were settled forever. (With thanks, apologies, to Charles Dickens.)
Now that I'm finished "clowning around", I want you to know that learning DSP is not quite as dismal as the above paragraph implies. In fact, you're opportunity to learn DSP has never been better, and I hope my book further improves this situation. With that said, here are a few thoughts about the book:
Oh no, not another book on digital signal processing! Don't we have enough of those mysterious books with confusing diagrams and pages filled with equations? Yes, we do, but Understanding Digital Signal Processing is not one of those books. Understanding Digital Signal Processing, written specifically for beginners by someone who's been there, is new and different. A gentle introduction to digital signal processing (DSP), this book is DSP without tears.
Years ago, I realized that the DSP textbook market was in need of a "DSP For the Complete Idiot" kind of book. That is, a book that would enable the practicing engineer to understand the fundamental principles and speak the language of DSP without formal training. I was convinced that a book that provided a slow, gentle introduction, with well-chosen examples and plenty of drawings, would be useful to many people. I was sure that learning DSP just wasn't as hard to learn as it appeared.
If that's true, then why does the subject have the reputation of being hard to understand? The answer lies partially in how the material is typically presented in the literature. It's difficult to convey technical information, with its mathematical subtleties, in written form. It's one thing to write equations, but it's another matter altogether to explain what those equations really mean from a practical standpoint, and that's the goal of this book.
Too often written explanation of DSP theory appears in one of two forms: mathematical miracles occur and you're simply given a short and sweet equation without further explanation; or you face a flood of complex variable equations and phrases such as "it is obvious that," "such that W(f) is greater than or equal to 0 å f," and "with judicious application of the homogeneity property." In their defense, DSP authors provide the needed information, but too often the reader must grab a pick and shovel, put on a miner's helmet, and try to dig the information out of a mountain of mathematical expressions. How many times have you been forced to follow the derivation of an equation, after which the author states they're going to illustrate that equation with a physical example, which turns out to be just another equation? A recipe for technical writing that's too rich in equations is hard for the beginner to digest.
The broad field of digital signal processing (DSP) covers the processes of analyzing, filtering, generating, and transmitting signals that are in digital form. Due to the proliferation of computer hardware, and the power of DSP techniques, our technical world is rapidly going from analog to digital. Applications for DSP abound and are growing: from below us with deep-sea geological mapping to above us with deep-space communications and radio astronomy; from products as superfluous as talking greeting cards to applications as serious as medical imaging. Without DSP there would be no on-ramps to the Information Super Highway (Internet), no digital television, cellular phones or CDs, and special effects in the movies would still be clay models. This overwhelming change in technology, commercial products, and information from analog to digital sets the stage for the fundamental topics all practicing and future engineers and scientists must understand.
While the primary audience for this book is practicing electrical and software engineers, with no background in DSP, the book is useful for anyone analyzing, or manipulating data of any kind using a computer. This audience includes a wide array of professions because technology has switched its signal analysis and data communications processes from analog to digital. Understanding Digital Signal Processing can be beneficial to Electrical and Communications Engineers, Computer Programmers, Mechanical Engineers, Chemical Engineers, Physicists, and college students
I wrote this book with one goal in mind; to provide an introduction to DSP that's readable, understandable, and comprehensive. With full sympathy for the struggling DSP beginner, I've tried to write a book that uses just enough mathematics to develop a fundamental understanding of DSP theory, and then illustrate that theory with examples
The book attempts to:
-Enable the reader to understand the fundamental principles and speak the language of DSP without having to attend formal training.
-Concentrate on practical signal processing fundamentals as opposed to mathematically rigorous discussions of discrete system theory.
-Provide just enough mathematics to develop a fundamental understanding of the theory and then illustrate that theory using practical examples.
-Explain the meaning of every mathematical equation in the book and illustrate key equations with figures.
-Provide, in addition to a comprehensive index, a list of references at the end of each chapter for the DSP reader who wants to explore further
The book begins with a complete explanation of the important, but often misunderstood, topics and applications of periodic sampling. Next, the introduction to the preeminent discrete Fourier transform, and its fast Fourier transform (FFT) implementation, is the most lucid and illuminating explanation available anywhere. That material includes recommendations to help the reader use the FFT in practice. The reader is also introduced to the important process of digital filtering. Both finite impulse response (FIR) and infinite impulse response (IIR) digital filters are covered, followed by a discussion of the use and benefits of signal averaging.
Next, you'll encounter the concepts used in advanced periodic sampling. The digital filter and advanced sampling chapters demystify the abstruse topics of the Convolution theorem and complex signals. The practical utility of binary number formats are also described and compared. Finally, a collection of tricks-of-the-trade, used by professionals to make DSP algorithms more efficient, is provided to help you apply DSP concepts successfully.
The appendices include a number of topics to help the beginner understand the mathematics of DSP, such as the arithmetic of complex numbers, complex signals and negative frequency, statistics fundamentals, and the use of the logarithmic decibel scale. The last appendix provides a glossary of the terminology used in the field of digital filters.
With Best Regards, and Wishes,
[-Rick-]
