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Definition: DSP


(1) See digital service provider, data storage provider and demand-side platform.

(2) (Digital Signal Processor) A chip that provides ultra-fast instruction sequences for digital signal processing (definition #3 below). For example, shift-and-add and multiply-and-add are common in math-intensive applications. DSP chips are found in cellphones, sound cards, modems, hard drives and digital TVs. In the late 1970s, Texas Instrument's popular Speak & Spell game was credited for having the first commercial DSP chip. See DSC.

(3) (Digital Signal Processing) A category of techniques that manipulate signals from real-world events. Sound, temperature, images and motion are converted into digital data and analyzed using Fast Fourier Transform and other algorithms. Chips specialized for DSP are common (definition #2 above), and they can be used for any application requiring these specialized instructions sequences.

Easier in Digital
Once a signal has been reduced to numbers, its components can be isolated, analyzed and rearranged more easily than in analog form. DSP is used in biomedicine, sonar, radar, seismology, audio, speech and music processing, imaging and communications. It is also used to create concert hall and surround sound effects for home theaters. See image processing and home theater.




DSP in Your Car
This earlier automobile sound system offered digitally created sound effects using the "DSP" function. "Sound effects" would have been a far better title. See user interface.