RTPROC: A System for Rapid Real-Time Prototyping in Audio Signal Processing

In this contribution a new system for the rapid development of real-time prototypes for digital audio signal processing algorithms on Windows PCs and a digital signal processor (DSP) platform is presented. The goal of this system is to enable even unexperienced developers to transform the conceptual idea of a new algorithm into a standalone real-time demonstrator as quickly and conveniently as possible. In order to achieve this goal, a software architecture is defined where hardware and algorithm related programming issues are separated to allow the algorithm developer to completely focus on the implementation of the algorithm only. Compared to the earlier version of H.Kruger et al (2003), the new system supports all real-time prototype development phases from first Matlab simulations to the final highly efficient implementation fixed point arithmetic and covers all relevant aspects such as e.g. control interface generation, function verification, complexity measuring and real-time data tracking. Development of prototypes based on general purpose PCs(RTProcPC) and the ADSP-21369 EZKIT embedded DSP target (RTProcDSP) are currently supported. The system has been successfully used to implement various real-time prototypes such as noise reduction, acoustic echo compensation, and digital hearing aid simulation.