The Evolution of Digital Signal Processors

Digital Signal Processors (DSP) are high-speed dedicated processors designed to perform arithmetic operations on their input signal, and then output the processed signals. They are currently used in many applications, such as telecommunications, video and audio signal processing, flight control systems, spacecraft, missiles, etc. DSP processors have evolved through several generations over the last few decades. This paper outlines the evolution of some of the DSP processors from early days of 1970s to the present.