DSP Software Development Techniques for Embedded and Realtime Systems

The CD that comes with this book has a 120-day version of Texas Instrument’s Code Composer Studio. That is because this book is intended for a college engineering class about embedded and realtime DSP programming. Robert Oshana succeeds at addressing this class of readers. You don’t have to take the course to get a lot out of this book though. It’s an easy read, although it will take more than an afternoon to get through. The time will be worth it though. As an instructional tool, the book works in a logical progression starting with a basic overview of DSP and then DSP algorithms like Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT). A basic programming and math background is required but that’s about it. The algorithm chapters are good but they only introduce them with respect to a DSP implementation. The move to DSP architectures comes quickly. While Texas Instruments’ products are highlighted and match the CD software, they are not the only ones addressed in the book providing more even coverage of the available technology. The book touches on real-time operating systems in both single-core and dual-core architectures like Texas Instrument’s DaVinci. It also does a good job on debugging. The only area that I would like to see more detail on would be on multithreading. This is an area that is lacking in college instruction when it comes to embedded applications but it would make an already hefty book even larger. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I would trade off in the current book. There are some contributed sections such as the chapter on “The Future of DSP Software Technology” by Bob Frankel, a TI Fellow. A host of appendices address topics such as DSP optimization and cache optimization. Even those dealing with DSPs on a regular basis can pick up a few tips and tricks. I definitely did. This one I can recommend for novices and experts.