DSP for Dummies

aka
How to turn this (actual raw sonar trace)
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1 14 27 40 53 66 79 92 105 118 131 144 157 170 183 196 209 222 235 248 261 274 287 300 313 326 339 352 365 378 391 404 417 430 443 456

1 14 27 40 53 66 79
Into this .. (filtered sonar data)
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 Fundamental property of all analog
signals
complex signals properties

amplitude

Decompose
into summation phase
i.e. audio
of sinusoids
frequency

i.e. digital bitstream

 Fourier Transform
How do we analyze the frequency components of a complex signal
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

Time space x(t) Frequency space X(w)

single frequency signal w0

t w0 w

t w

Some properties
• X(w) is complex -- complex conjugate encodes phase
• Fourier transform is invertable
 Digital Signals
Sample amplitude at discrete time intervals
1,0

.55 .46

-,6

-1.0
Nyquist limit (http://www.medcyclopaedia.com)
(Harry Nyquist, 18891976, Swedish - American physicist), the maximum frequency of a signal that
can be measured with a method that employs sampling of the signal with a specific frequency, the
sampling frequency. According to Shannons sampling theorem, a signal must be sampled with a
frequency at least twice the frequency of the signal itself. The maximum measurable frequency the
Nyquist limit or frequency is thus half the sampling frequency. If the signal frequency is higher than
the Nyquist limit, aliasing occurs.
 Discrete Fourier Transform
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

Given a signal represented as a time sequence of samples, the DFT

gives us a seqence of frequency/phase amplitudes

1,0

.55 .46

w0 w
-,6

-1.0

w
 Signals and noise
What is noise?
Any signal other than the one you are interested in!

Sources of Noise (the usual suspects)

• statistical signals from active electronic components
• crosstalk from other channels or other signals in the same channel
• signals sensed from external sources (power supply, EM radiation)

Trival Example
1.5
1.5 1.5

1
1 1

0.5 0.5 0.5

Signal to Noise ratio
0 0 0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82
The relative amplitude of
the signal of interest o the
1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82

-0.5 -0.5 -0.5

noise signal
-1 -1 -1

-1.5 -1.5 -1.5

Signal of interest + Noise signal Noisey Signal

=
 Filtering out the Noise
Finite Impulse response (FIR) filter

Ideal Pulse (time domain) Ideal Pulse (frequency domain)

Zero rise/fall time

to inifinity to inifinity

t w
Ideal Pulse (time domain)

actual rise/fall time finite band of component frequencies

w
The number and values of the component freqencies is related to the rise/fall time of the pulse
http://www.chem.uoa.gr/Applets/AppletFourAnal/Appl_FourAnal2.html
 How a filter works
1.5

FFT
0.5

0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82
w
-0.5
wsignal wnoise
-1

-1.5

1.5

0.5

minus w
wnoise
0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82

-0.5

-1

-1.5

1.5

0.5

FFT-1
w
0
1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81

-0.5
wsignal
-1

-1.5