Essential Guide to Digital Signal Processing, The

How signal processing works: clear, simple explanations in plain English Breakthrough DSP applications: from smartphones to healthcare and beyond Covers both digital and analog signals An indispensable resource for tech writers, marketers, managers, and other nonengineers   The Complete DSP Guide for Businesspeople and Nontechnical Professionals   Digital signal processing (DSP) technology is everywhere–each time you use a smartphone, tablet, or computer; play an MP3; watch a digital TV or DVD; get GPS directions; play a video game; take a digital photo; or even have an MRI, DSP technology is at work.   Now, for the first time, The Essential Guide to Digital Signal Processing offers readers of all levels simple, plain-English explanations of digital and analog signals and modern DSP applications. Whether you sell technology, write about it, manage it, fix it, or invest in it, this is the book for you.   Using everyday examples and simple diagrams, two leading DSP consultants and instructors completely demystify signal processing. You’ll discover what digital signals are, how they’re generated, and how they’re changing your life.   You’ll learn all you need to know about digital signal collection, filtering, analysis, and more, and how DSP works in today’s most exciting devices and applications.   Coverage includes How engineers understand and work with analog signal spectra and frequencies How digital signals are generated and used in modern electronic devices The surprising things that happen when analog signals are converted to digital form How (and why) engineers compute digital signal spectra with Fourier transforms What wavelets are and how they’re used everywhere, from medicine to the camera in your smartphone How digital filters are used in DSP applications Cutting-edge DSP applications, from automatic music-tuning software to medical EKG signal analysis A comprehensive glossary of signal processing terminology and acronyms   You’ll gain a clear, conceptual understanding of all key signal processing operations and vocabulary. That means you’ll understand much of the “magic” built into today’s newest devices, and you’ll be ready to succeed in virtually any nontechnical role that requires DSP knowledge.  

Table of Contents:
Preface        xi Chapter 1: What Is Digital Signal Processing?         1 The Phantom Technology   1 What Is a Signal?   2 Analog and Digital Signals   3 Digital Signal Processing   3 What You Should Remember   5   Chapter 2: Analog Signals        7 What Is an Analog Signal?   7 A Temperature Analog Signal   7 An Audio Analog Signal   8 An Electrical Analog Signal   10 A Human Speech Analog Signal   21 What You Should Remember   22   Chapter 3: Frequency and the Spectra of Analog Signals         25 Frequency   25 The Concept of Spectrum   29 Analog Signal Spectra   30 What You Should Remember   42   Chapter 4: Digital Signals and How They Are Generated         43 What Is a Digital Signal?   43 How Digital Signals Are Generated   48 The Sample Rate of a Digital Signal   52 A Speech Digital Signal   53 An Example of Digital Signal Processing   55 Another Example of Digital Signal Processing   57 Two Important Aspects of Sampling Analog Signals   61 Sample Rate Conversion   63 What You Should Remember   66   Chapter 5: Sampling and the Spectra of Digital Signals         67 Analog Signal Spectra–A Quick Review   67 How Sampling Affects the Spectra of Digital Signals   71 The Spectrum of a Digital Sine Wave Signal   82 The Spectrum of a Digital Voice Signal   85 The Spectrum of a Digital Music Signal 86 Anti-Aliasing Filters   89 Analog-to-Digital Converter Output Numbers   93 What You Should Remember   94   Chapter 6: How We Compute Digital Signal Spectra         95 Computing Digital Spectra   95 A Spectral Computation Example   97 A Spectral Analysis Example   103 What You Should Remember   106   Chapter 7: Wavelets         107 The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)–A Quick Review   107 The Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT)   109 What You Should Remember   117   Chapter 8: Digital Filters         119 Analog Filtering   119 Generic Filter Types   121 Digital Filtering   122 What You Should Remember   126   Chapter 9: Binary Numbers         127 Number Systems   128 Binary Data   133 Why Use Binary Numbers?   134 Binary Numbers and Analog-to-Digital Converters   136 What You Should Remember   139   Appendix A: Scientific Notation         141   Appendix B: Decibels         145 Decibels Used to Describe Sound Power Values   146 Decibels Used to Measure Earthquakes   147 Decibels Used to Describe Signal Amplitudes   149 Decibels Used to Describe Filters   153   Appendix C: AM and FM Radio Signals         155 AM Radio Signals   155 FM Radio Signals   157 Comparing AM and FM Radio   159   Appendix D: Binary Number Formats         161 Unsigned Binary Number Format   161 Sign-Magnitude Binary Number Format   162 Two’s Complement Binary Number Format   163 Offset Binary Number Format   165 Alternate Binary Number Notation   166   Glossary         169   Index         185