Signal processing and architecture in the lower division electrical engineering core

A core course introducing aspects of digital signal processing in a sophomore level architecture course can be used in a variety of undergraduate curriculum structures as an alternative to a "first" DSP course with a systems perspective. An early basic course in logic design with FPGA implementations is common to most university electrical engineering programs, and a course on machine organization and architectures using assembly language instructions follows naturally. Such a course can also introduce students to concepts of DSP while teaching processor structure and organization using a digital signal processing microprocessor and FPGAs. Real time audio signal processing makes the course more interesting to lower division students and reinforces concepts of filtering, modulation, and sampling. This paper describes a "DSP second" course structured in this way. Since there is no linear systems prerequisite, this course is suitable for diverse undergraduate programs. Upper division elective signal processing courses which include traditional DSP topics can cover more material if students already have been introduced to basic DSP concepts and implementations in the sophomore year