Digital Signal Processing/Image Processing Lab

Location: 20-135
Coordinator: Dr. Mahmood Nahvi
Facilities: EE 419/459
Size: 696
Average Number of Students a Year: 80
Utilization Ratio: 0.04

Description

Image and signal processing laboratory experiments support major study courses of the upper division undergraduate programs in electrical engineering and computer engineering at Cal Poly. They offer students powerful techniques and tools to apply, synthesize, design, simulate and implement state-of-the-art solutions to modern engineering problems. The signal and image processing laboratories provide hands-on experience in a way that integrates theory, software, hardware and applications. Such capabilities in image and signal processing are critical to technical leadership of US industry. A design project in image and signal processing integrates with several other topics in electrical engineering. The integration can be mutual. Developing such applications and hardware tools supplements activities in microprocessors, communication, and control courses. At the same time, image and signal processing give the mentioned courses a real life flavor of "learn as you need."

Cal Poly’s dedicated DSP lab is currently equipped with 8 C6000 EVMs. The lab serves approximately 80 students per year. Most of these students take a senior-level DSP course as a technical elective (EE419). This is a hands-on experience in DSP systems. The course covers digital filter design. Students study a variety of design techniques and then implement and test their filters on TI boards. This experience culminates with a final project in which students must analyze real signals in order to define filter specifications, they then pick a filter design method, design + implement + test the filters.

Requirements for the EE419 final project are defined such that an entire system must include more than just filter(s). Students must then define components that interface to the DSP processor. An important learning objective in this project is for students to appreciate how DSP processors can be made part of an integrated solution to a system. The signal analysis and filter design are part of this objective, as is the overall system design that integrates the DSP into a larger overall system. This gives the students a glimpse of the entire design-implementation cycle of DSP-based products.

Equipment Needs