Signal Processors

Before going into signal processors, you should first know what a signal is. A signal is any time-varying measure that is used in the field of electrical engineering, as well as communications and signal processing. Signals can be classified into two types. They can either be vector-valued functions of relevant autonomous variable, or scalar-valued functions of time, which is often called waveforms. Most of the time, signals are scalar in value.

Now, an audio signal is a type of signal that is electrical in form, characterizing sound that varies with time. It can either be analog or digital in form. When signals are analyzed, interpreted, and/or manipulated, the process is called signal processing. Signal can refer to different elements such as sound, or images, and even biological signals like radar, or ECG, etc. The processing of these signals is comprised of storage and reconstruction, separation of information from noise, compression, and feature extraction.

As mentioned previously, signals can be in analog or digital form. Signal processors for analog signals may engage in the amplification and filtering of audio signals for audio equipment. It may also be involved in the modulation and demodulation of signals for telecommunications. Signal processors for digital signals may entail compression, error checking and error detection of digital signals.

To classify signal processors further, the different types of signal processing are hereby identified. Audio signal processors involve processing of electrical signals represented by sound. Statistical signal processors analyze and extract statistical properties of signals. Speech signal processors interpret and process spoken words. Image processors analyze and process signals in digital image forms like in digital cameras and computers. Video signal processors are for processing moving pictures, and lastly, array signal processors are meant for arrays of sensors.

Now, digital signal processors are designed especially for real-time computing or what we call digital signal processing. It comes as a dedicated microprocessor or integrated circuits that are used in most audio systems.
Digital Signal processing is often used in audio signal processors because DSPs are more powerful and efficient in audio applications. However, all real world audio signals are continuous-time analog signals. That’s why audio signals are converted from analog forms to digital forms by means of sampling and quantization.

Signal processors can also be classified as equalizers, crossovers, and line drivers. These mechanisms can make a great difference to the quality of your sound system. Each type has its own advantage and disadvantages. If you want to know more about each signal processor, you can find lots of information on the internet.