DIGITAL SIGNAL-PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS

Besides ADCs, digital signal processing is another key element in radios using digitization of the 

RF or IF. The amount of time required for signal processing is of critical importance in radio 

receiver applications. The required processing time is a function of the received signal 

bandwidth, the speed of the processor, and the number and complexity of the algorithms required 

to perform the needed radio receiver operations. These operations are application-specific and 

may include some or all of the following: downconversion, filtering, multiple access processing, 

demultiplexing, frequency despreading, demodulation, synchronization, channel decoding, 

decryption, and source decoding [22], [23]. Because of the wide variety of algorithms possible in 

radio receiver applications, digital signal-processing limitations are more difficult to discuss than 

ADCs.  

The intent of this section is to discuss the requirements and limitations of digital signal 

processing. It is not intended to provide a detailed presentation of the wide variety of digital 

signal-processing techniques and algorithms that are available. Many books and papers are 

available to provide detailed information on digital signal-processing techniques and algorithms. 

One fundamental book on digital signal processing is [24].