A project-oriented Master programme in “DSP Algorithms and ASIC Architectures”

Over the last decade, digital signal processing (DSP) has evolved from being a term known by only a few specialists, to a household term. The growth in DSP applied in e.g., consumer, medical, communications, networking and computing devices has been spectacular. In fact, the digital signal processor market has grown 40% per year since 1988 and this figure is expected to continue over the neat 10 years. At the same time, the extreme improvement in hardware technologies has been paving the way for designing dedicated architectures for real time execution of still more complex DSP algorithms, continuously decreasing the power and silicon consumption required to perform certain functionalities. Consequently, the authors consider advanced DSP topics as being essential in the curriculum for a still growing number of electrical engineering students. These topics are basically related to: (1) the design of highly complex DSP algorithms according to given specifications; and (2) real time implementation of these algorithms using various and conceptually different hardware architectures. Aalborg University, Denmark, which has a longstanding tradition for project-oriented teaching in traditional DSP theory at the Master level, therefore in 1994 launched a new Master programme in “DSP Algorithms and ASIC Architectures” Now, after five years of very successful execution of this programme, the authors report on their experiences