The objective of EE 453, an electrical engineering elective course taken by seniors and graduate students, is to develop a rigorous, yet elementary, introduction to the fundamentals of one-dimensional discrete-time (digital) signal processing. The main topics in the course are the analysis and design of finite impulse response (FIR) and infinite impulse response (IIR) digital filters, the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and its computation via the fast Fourier transform (FFT), and error analysis due to the constraints of finite arithmetic.
The emphasis on the analysis and design of linear time-invariant discrete-time filters rests on the background acquired in the time as well as transform domain analysis of continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems interfaced via the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theory.
The students are alerted about topics outside the main thrust of the course mentioned above and these peripheral issues (that lead to more advanced subject matter pursued in depth in subsequent signal processing courses) include interpolation, decimation, and multirate digital signal processing.
There is also a laboratory portion of EE 453 that exposes students to the use of digital signal processing workstations -- a collection of hardware and software that is used to acquire, digitize, filter, analyze, and display a variety of real-life signals. This hands-on experience helps the student appreciate and understand theoretical concepts covered in class like the sampling and reconstruction of continuous-time signals, IIR and FIR filter design, and error analysis.