Teaching real-time DSP using digital signal processors at the University of Leicester

There is an urgent need to develop efficient methods to promote the understanding of digital signal processor (DSP) chips in the education of electrical engineering students. Such devices can be up to 70 times faster than standard microprocessors for some tasks, making the real-time implementation of some rather complex signal processing algorithms possible using cheap, but very flexible, hardware. The Engineering Department of the University of Leicester found that a lecture combined with practical work in a single laboratory session, in all lasting one day, is a very effective way to introduce the subject. The activities cover the particular architecture of the DSP processor chip and that of the development card used, programming in Assembly, understanding the software for controlling the interface of the DSP processor to the host processor (PC compatible) and the treatment of interrupts. Our teaching is based on the TMS320C25 DSP chip. We give some background, then detail the equipment used and finally present part of the material handed out to the students for the laboratory session.