Digital signal processors, such as the TMS320 family of processors, are used in a wide range of applications, such as in communications, controls, speech processing, and so on. They are used in fax transmission, modems, cellular phones, and other devices. These devices have also found their way into the university classroom, where they provide an economical way to introduce real-time digital signal processing (DSP) to the student.

Texas Instruments recently introduced the TM320C6x processor, based on the very-long-instruction-word (VLIW) architecture. This newer architecture supports features that facilitate the development of efficient high-level language compilers. Throughout the book we refer to the C/C++ language simply as C. Although TMS320C6x/assembly language can produce fast code, problems with documentation and maintenance may exist. With the available C compiler, the programmer must consider to “let the tools do the work.” After that, if the programmer is not satisfied, Chapters 3 and 8 and the last few examples in Chapter 4 can be very useful.

This book is intended primarily for senior undergraduate and first-year graduate students in electrical and computer engineering and as a tutorial for the practicing engineer. It is written with the conviction that the principles of DSP can best be learned through interaction in a laboratory setting, where students can appreciate the concepts of DSP through real-time implementation of experiments and projects. The background assumed is a course in linear systems and some knowledge of C.

Most chapters begin with a theoretical discussion, followed by representative examples that provide the necessary background to perform the concluding experiments. There are a total of 76 solved programming examples, most using C code, with a few in assembly and linear assembly code.A list of these examples appears on page xv. Several sample projects are also discussed.