Communications Signal Processing

Unit Code:
Credit value:

15 Credits

Aim
The aim of this unit is to develop the knowledge of the digital signal
processing techniques and technologies applicable to modern
communications systems.

Unit Abstract
Learners will be able to examine digital signal processing techniques and
technologies applicable to modern communications systems. It includes
speech and audio applications, picture compression and video
conferencing and multimedia systems.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this unit a learner will:
1 Understand digital signal processing (DSP) systems
2 Understand speech and audio signal processing techniques
3 Understand image and video coding techniques and standards.

Unit Content
1 Digital signal processing (DSP)
Operation of DSP: filtering (eg Finite-duration Impulse Response (FIR) and
Infinite-duration Impulse Response (IIR) filter structures); spectral analysis
(eg the Discrete Fourier Transform, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and
Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT)); review the advantages and
disadvantages of DSP systems; concepts of analogue signals and noise;
examples of bandwidth and dynamic range applicable to speech, audio
and video signals DSP sub-systems: analogue-to-digital converters (eg
binary word length, quantisation errors, sampling frequency, the Nyquist
sampling rate, aliasing and the use of anti-alias filters); DSP hardware
(fixed and floating-point devices); application of specific DSPs and
dedicated devices (eg hardware coder-decoder (CODEC)); digital-toanalogue converters; reconstruction filters
2 Speech and audio
Audio waveform coding: eg principles and applications of companding (_law and A-law), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), Delta Modulation (DM),
Differential PCM (DPCM), Adaptive DPCM (ADPCM), Adaptive DM (ADM)
and Sub-Band Coding (SBC)
Audio signal processing techniques: uncompressed high fidelity digital
audio formats (eg Compact Disc (CD) and Digital Audio Tape (DAT)); linear
predictive coding; oversampling and dithering
Compression standards: compressed high fidelity digital audio formats (eg
NICAM, MiniDisc (MD) and Digital Compact Cassette (DCC);
psychoacoustic compression techniques; MPEG-Audio (Layers 1, 2 and 3);
comparison of audio compression and coding techniques and standards)
3 Image and video coding
Compression of fixed pictures: JPEG compression (eg decomposition of the
picture into blocks, DCT, thresholding, quantisation, run-length coding,
Huffmann coding)
Compression of moving pictures: MPEG compression (eg I, P and B
pictures, prediction, motion estimation and compensation; comparison of
MPEG 1, 2 and 4 etc)
Video conferencing and telephony: overview of applicable multimedia
techniques and broadband standards (eg H.261, H.320 etc)