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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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God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on my high places. Habakkuk 3:19
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. Ecclesiastes 3:1,5
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2
Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay. Job 33:6
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! Psalm 100:4
Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! Psalm 134:2
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8
He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-39
Then He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live." Ezekiel 37:4-5
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Proverbs 11:4
The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:2-3
Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding." Daniel 2:20-21
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17
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