Over the past 50 years, digital signal processing has evolved as a major engineering discipline. The fields of signal processing have grown from the origin of fast Fourier transform and digital filter design to statistical spectral analysis and array processing, and image, audio, and multimedia processing, and shaped developments in high-performance VLSI signal processor design. Indeed, there are few fields that enjoy so many applications—signal processing is everywhere in our lives.
When one uses a cellular phone, the voice is compressed, coded, and modulated using signal processing techniques. As a cruise missile winds along hillsides searching for the target, the signal processor is busy processing the images taken along the way. When we are watching a movie in HDTV, millions of audio and video data are being sent to our homes and received with unbelievable fidelity. When scientists compare DNA samples, fast pattern recognition techniques are being used. On and on, one can see the impact of signal processing in almost every engineering and scientific discipline...