Recent advances in digital signal processing (DSP) technology make it easier for scientists to
develop powerful personal computer-based data acquisition and analysis systems. This application
note discusses DSP technology from a hardware, software, and application point of view. The
Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) architecture of the Texas Instruments (TI) TMS320C30
chip is used as an example of the power of a DSP processor. For software, programming
methods–from low-level machine code to high-level DSP operating systems–are compared. The
application note concludes with examples of how DSP is being integrated into test-and-
measurement systems ranging from audio and speech analysis to image processing and real-time
control.