Signal Processing

Signal Processing is an area of electrical engineering, computer science, and applied mathematics that focuses on the analysis, synthesis, and modification of signals, which are broadly defined as functions conveying "information about the behavior or attributes of some phenomenon". Signal processing techniques are used to improve the accuracy and reliability of digital communications by manipulating these signals to make them more accurate and efficient.

Overview

Signal processing involves the manipulation of signals to improve their quality or to extract important information that they carry. Signals of interest can include sound, electromagnetic radiation, images, and sensor readings, among others. The goal of signal processing is often to produce a new signal that has a more desirable form or more useful information than the original.

Techniques

Signal processing incorporates a variety of techniques to achieve its objectives, including:

• Digital signal processing (DSP)
• Analog signal processing
• Audio signal processing
• Image processing
• Video processing
• Statistical signal processing

Digital Signal Processing

Digital signal processing (DSP) is one of the most widely used techniques. It involves the numerical manipulation of signals that have been converted from analog to digital form. DSP algorithms can perform a variety of signal processing operations, such as filtering, compression, and error detection and correction.

Analog Signal Processing

Analog signal processing is used for signals that have not been digitized, as in traditional radio, telephone, radar, and television systems. This form of signal processing is less flexible than digital signal processing, and is becoming less common as digital signal processing advances.

Audio Signal Processing

Audio signal processing is used for processing sound signals. Applications include speech signal processing, sonar, radar, and other sensor array processing, seismic data processing, and control systems.

Image Processing

Image processing involves processing images by means of digital computing. Typical operations might include image enhancement, image restoration, image compression, and image segmentation.

Video Processing

Video processing involves the manipulation of video signals to improve quality or extract information. Techniques include video compression, filtering, and motion detection.

Statistical Signal Processing

Statistical signal processing involves the manipulation of signals using statistical techniques to extract useful information. Applications include communications, radar, acoustics, sonar, seismic data analysis, and biomedical engineering.

Applications

Signal processing has a wide range of applications in many fields:

• Telecommunications, to improve the quality and efficiency of data transmission
• Radar, to process the signals returned from radar objects
• Medicine, for processing signals from medical devices, such as ECGs and EEGs
• Seismology, for analyzing signals from seismic events to predict earthquakes
• Finance, for analyzing time series data to predict stock market movements

See Also

• Fourier transform
• Wavelet transform
• Filter (signal processing)
• Modulation
• Sampling (signal processing)