Digital Signal Processing (Dsp) Solutions in Automotive

Why DSP? What makes a digital signal processor (DSP) different from other processor architectures and what impact will the DSP have on the automobile? The answer lies in the algorithms they are intended to run. Digital signal processing is the discreet time sampling of a continuous signal, discreet processing of the signal, and outputting the resultant signal. These operations can be implemented with a calculator and scratch paper, a microcontroller, RISC engine, or a DSP. The parameters of interest are how quickly the answer is required and the determinism of the answer. A DSP is specifically designed to implement digital signal processing algorithms. This paper will investigate DSP algorithms, how the DSP is architected to implement these algorithms efficiently, and the impact DSPs will have on the automobile.