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DSP Algorithms for RF Systems
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Figure 4: The impulse response and frequency response of the LPF before the FIR filter gain is normalized.

Designing FIR Filter Gain

February 23, 2022

This blog describes how to design the FIR filter gain through normalization and then applying a gain. Applying filter gain may be desirable to setting the proper amplitude level or power level needed for follow on processing based on threshold values or other reference levels.

Filter design methods may create different gains for the resulting filters such as with Remez, using windowed sinc functions or as specially designed pulse shaping filters. Normalizing the magnitude response of an FIR filter makes the gain 1, or 0 dB, at a desired frequency. A gain factor can then be applied by scaling each of the filter weights.

Wave Walker DSP YouTube Channel Video

Wave Walker DSP YouTube Channel

February 9, 2022

I started a YouTube channel! My first video is a lecture I gave as a PhD student at Virginia Tech. Be on the lookout for

A radio receiver acts like an assembly line. Samples are held in a tapped delay line, operated on, and then passed along to the next operation.

Minimizing Filter Length: Explaining Why

February 9, 2022

Longer filters create a bottleneck in a DSP assembly line. Minimizing filter length reduces the size of the bottleneck which allows the receiver to run at a faster sampling rate and therefore process more bandwidth. Minimizing filter length is important because it minimizes the number of multiplies that have to be performed. Multiplication can be slow and cause a heavy computational load.

New GNU Radio Beginner Tutorials!

February 2, 2022

The new GNU Radio Tutorials are live! Check them out here: https://wiki.gnuradio.org/index.php?title=Tutorials A big thank you to NumFOCUS for sponsoring the work and to Marc

Why are filters used in DSP? To combine, or synthesize, multiple signals into one.

Why are Filters used in DSP?

January 26, 2022

Much is said in an undergraduate education about how to design filters but not how to apply them. I never felt as if I got a great answer to the question: “why are filters used in DSP?”, so in this blog post I’ll answer that question with the four ways I have found them to be applied:

  • Destroy: Remove elements from a signal
  • Modify: Apply a desired effect to a signal
  • Isolate: Separate signals from one another
  • Combine: Combine multiple signals together

How I feel talking about myself in the workplace.

Self Promotion: Engineer’s Worst Fear (Yikes!)

January 19, 2022

One of the things I struggled with while I was younger was self promotion: talking about my accomplishments, writing a resume, and giving presentations on my work. It felt strangely boastful. I’d ask myself the questions, “why do I have to tell everyone what I’m doing?” and “can’t they see how hard I’m working and all the great work I’m doing?”

Have you ever felt like this?

Talking about yourself and your accomplishments is part of being an engineer in the same way you’re expected to show up at work on time, attend team meetings and respond to emails.

In this post I talk about the proper mindset needed for talking about yourself, how everyone else feels about it and how you can do it honestly.

GNU Radio Tutorials: Half-Way Review

January 13, 2022

Go to the tutorials here: https://wiki.gnuradio.org/index.php/NewTutorialReview

I was selected to update the GNU Radio tutorials, sponsored by NumFOCUS.org (Thank You!). I’ve reached the half-way point on the contract and have paused until Thursday, January 20th to allow for reviews and comments on the progress made so far. The new tutorials can be found on the NewTutorialReview page on the GNU Radio wiki.

Highlights:

  • 11 new tutorials (What is GNU Radio? and Installing GNU Radio are not new)
  • 160 images
  • Navigation menu connecting all new tutorials

Figure 6: The magnitude of the cross correlation between c[n] and y[n], |Ryc[tau]|.

Cross Correlation: Explaining Time Lags

January 12, 2022

Cross correlation is a mathematical measure of similarity between two signals. The time lag \tau is used to measure the similarity between two signals as they are shifted in time relative to one another by \tau samples. In this blog post examples will be given which explain why time lags are used in the cross correlation equation.

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