DSP and communication engineering education with graphical block diagram simulation tools

Graphical block diagram simulation tools with highly interactive plotting and visualization capabilities can accelerate and greatly improve DSP and communications education. In this paper, we present several projects given in graduate and senior level undergraduate courses in DSP and communications which use the graphical simulation tool Capsim, and emphasize the importance of true multi-rate signal processing capability for studying DSP. We present a project on integrated design and simulation of network and physical layers in communications systems which also requires asynchronous data flow capability. This project unifies two topics that are traditionally treated separately, and provides important insight for students on error free transmission over noisy channels