Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Spring 2009
Professor: Milos Doroslovacki
T
he last four decades have witnessed digital signal processing (DSP)
becoming a very well established discipline. DSP finds applications in
numerous fields, e.g. speech processing, communications and bio-
medical engineering. The ease of manipulating discrete-time data and the
abundant theoretical background, together with the low cost and availability
of sampling and processing hardware, makes digital solutions a first choice,
when handling continuous-time signals. It is therefore not surprising that the
Hi-Tech industry is craving for young engineers with profound theoretical
knowledge as well as application skills.
Most DSP algorithms are not very complicated. The good news is that most
major DSP manufacturers (e.g., Motorola, Texas Instruments, Analog
Devices, etc.) now provide low-cost evaluation
platforms for their DSP chips. Software almost always
includes assemblers, linkers, and simulators. The challenge
Implement Peak Program
A C compiler is often available. (The fact that a C
Meter based on the C6713
compiler can be used does not invalidate the need for
DSK starter kit that detect
the programmer to understand the architecture of the
and provide LED indication
DSP chip, though if the application represents a very
of/warning whenever an
light load on the processor, the programmer can
output value is
postpone detailed study during earlier stages in the
approaching the range
design process.) A major factor in choosing a DSP chip
limit of the DAC.
is whether it employs floating or fixed point math.
Fixed-point chips are generally much cheaper, but
floating point chips are easier to program (since one
does not have to worry about certain effects the fixed-
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point math can produce).An increasingly popular trend in speech and audio
processing leads to the importance of getting the accurate measuring for
those signals.
Historically volume unit meters (VU) were used in audio systems to monitor
the signals level.VU meters however have displayed accuracy problems that
are largely due to the fact that meter takes an average measurement that is
severely restricted by the ballistics of the mechanical metering system.
This can result in short, but very loud transients being missed or improperly
displayed. More recently audio equipment manufacturers developed the
peak program meter (PPM) to overcome the VU meter’s lackluster
performance at displaying peak signal levels.
In the other hand, there are many applications where we need to know
exactly what the peak level of the signal is. Once upon a time, the only place
where this was necessary was in broadcasting - because if you overload a
transmitter, bad things happen. So, the people in the broadcasting world
didn't have much use for the VU Meter - they needed to see the peak of the
program material, so the Peak Program Meter or PPM was developed in
Europe around the same time as the VU Meter was in development in the US.
There are a number of other PPM Scales available to the buying public. In
addition to the UK PPM, there's the EBU PPM, the DIN PPM and the Nordic
PPM. Each of these has a different scale as is shown in Table 10.1 and the
corresponding Figure 1.1.
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Figure 1 VU and PPM scales
A. Type I PPM's
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PPM is not the reciprocal of the attack curve. This is defined by how quickly
the indicator drops - in this case, the indicator will drop 20 dB in 1.4 to 2.0
seconds.
B. Type II PPM's
To avoid unintended distortion we have to ensure that the analog signal that
is digitized by the analog to digital converter (ADC) shouldn’t exceed the
maximum voltage range of the converter. In other words, to be careful to
ensure that the ADC is not driven beyond the maximum input voltages
range, in either the positive or negative directions.
Even if the input analog signal remains within the proper range of the ADC, it
is still possible to distort the signal by exceeding the output range of the
digital to analog converter (DAC).As an example, the possible range for a 16
bit converter using two complement representations is +32,767 to
-32,768.The only way the signal can exceed the output range for the DAC is
if the DSP algorithm has a gain that exceeds 1.0.
Most of the work presented in this paper used the following tools:
I. DSK
Implementation in C
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±32767.These turn on levels are shown the Figure below , where the
sinusoidal signal is at the maximum amplitude for the DAC.
The LEDs on the DSK are controlled by updating the bit pattern at IO PORT
address (0x90008000) with the function UpdateLEDs () in the main program
II.II. Initial setup for TMS 320C6713 and the C code explanation
1- The Setup
1- The C Code
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1. The first lines determine maxOutput (The maximum of the absolute
value of both the left and the right output channels.
maxOutput = _fabsf(outputLeft);
if(maxOutput < _fabsf(outputRight))
maxOutput = _fabsf(outputRight);
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4. If the maxOutput is greater than 28000 in magnitude then LEDs 1
turned ON. Counter for LED 1 is set at 4800 counter values keep LEDs
1 ON for .1 seconds respectively.
5. Updates the LED Mask based on the status of the LED counters
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I. Conclusion
Its general function is similar to a VU meter but there are some important
differences. The rise time of a PPM (the time it takes to register the level of a
sound) is much faster than a VU meter, typically 10 milliseconds compared
to 300 milliseconds. This makes transient peaks easier to measure. PPM
meters are very good for reading fast, transient sounds. This is especially
useful in situations where pops and distortion are a problem. The fall time of
a PPM (the time it takes the meter to return to a lower reading) is much
slower.
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References
[1] S K Hasnain and Pervez Akhter, Digital Signal Processing (Theory and worked examples)-
Jan 2006.
[4] http://www.redcedar.com/learndsp.htm
[5] http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/monitoring/ppm.html
[6] http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/monitoring/ppm.html
[7] http://www.sweetwater.com/expert-center/glossary/t--PPM
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