New to DSPs - want to learn DSP for knowledge purpose

[sush]

New to DSPs

I know how to work with Microcontrollers ATMEL 89 series, PIC16F, PIC18F. I want to know where are DSP's used. If I want to learn from which one should I start & how should I start.(at present i want to learn DSP for knowledge purpose.)

 

[frankvh]

Re: New to DSPs

Think of a DSP as kinda like a micro on steroids. A DSP will typically run a lot faster. It will usually have an internal architecture that permits parallel code fetches & data fetches. It will usually have a instruction set which permit efficient execution of multiply - accumulate sequences.

The point of all this is to be able to very quickly run code that looks like this:
- get a data word
- multiply it by some other data word
- add the result to a previous operation
- save the result
And repeat. A lot.

None of this prevents the DSP from being a good general-purpose processor. As an example, take a look at the Analog Devices Blackfin processor. It runs linux, but it's a DSP. So you can have all your linux code, and still be able to efficiently execute digital filters, image processing code, audio codecs, etc.

Frank
https://www.frankvh.com

 

[swingbyte]

Re: New to DSPs

DSP chips used to be micros on steroids, now the difference is not so great as far as processing speed is concerned. A lot of DSP from the old days (56001)can be done on the newer 32b chips. The important differences are the specialised instructions including MAC for common functions used in dsp algorithm implementation and usually a Harvard architecture.
What sort of DSP do you want to know? If you want the full theory, the standard texts are nearly all called something like Discrete time signal processing or Digital Signal processing and some authors to look for are Rabiner and Gold, Oppenheim and Schefer. DSP is also used in control systems and a good book for that is Ogata Discrete time control systems.
If you just want to play with music and digital filters from a hobby point of view without doing all the maths then Musical applications of microprocessors by Chamberlin is a good introduction although a bit old now.
The application notes from the DSP ship makers are probably the best to start reading.
DSP is a vast and complex but rewarding area of work - good luck.