A Digital Processor to Generate Spectra in Real Time

Abstract—A digital processor capable of computing the discrete Fourier transform for a range of audio signals in real time has been built as part of a facility to conduct research in signal processing. The digitized sample values can be complex. The arithmetic unit is configured to perform complex connectives, and automatic array scaling is used to make numerical accuracy independent of signal level. The Cooley–Tukey "fast Fourier transform" is the algorithm used.