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Mihai V. MICEA
Real-Time Data Acquisition and DSP Systems
1 Introduction
Today society has a powerful ally – the digital computer. We are surrounded and
assisted in our everyday activities by this reliable and efficient friend, even when we
do not realize it immediately.
Currently, digital processing systems support almost every human activity, as
extremely efficient, fast and precise command and control tools. From bank
transactions and modern digital telecommunication services to air and ground traffic
control, or from quick and easy office management to the advanced technology of
satellites, digital control systems can be found as key components.
Moreover, digital technologies have recently approached one of the most
abstract and "human" field of activity: the art production.
This unprecedented development of digital systems and technology in our
present society represents the major premise of its accelerated progress.
Given the huge number of applications involving digital processing systems,
new types of problems emerged, including:
y interfacing the digital systems to the application environment
y developing efficient algorithms for data and signal processing
y embedding digital control and processing units into products
y providing real-time system operating capabilities
y designing effective data communication architectures and protocols
To address and solve such design and engineering challenges, new research and
development fields appeared:
1. Data Acquisition and Conditioning Systems
2. Digital Signal Processing
3. Embedded and Real-Time Systems
4. Digital Communication Architectures
and
Protocols
All major companies and laboratories involved in research and production of
digital equipment consider these fields as top priority and allocate a large amount of
highly qualified specialists and funding to approach the design and engineering
issues. Companies like Motorola, Alcatel, Siemens, Texas Instruments, Analog
Devices, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Intel, Microsoft, National Instruments,
Matrox, Tektronix, Math Works, Signalogic, Pentek and many others, prove the
importance of these fields.
On the other hand, the research and development efforts on these issues are
initiated and supported by the vast majority of universities and academic research
laboratories around the globe.
POLITEHNICA University of Timisoara is a good example, with its Digital
Signal Processing Laboratories – DSPLabs, which has operated for over 6 years in
design, analysis and engineering of data acquisition and conditioning systems, digital
signal processing, digital image processing and embedded systems.
Introduction
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