Advice

Hi 

In a few months, I have the option to study DSP as a final year option
at uni. I dont know the subject yet, but is my time better spent else
were? I there lots of jobs in this area of industry?  Is it worth me
having numerous sleepless nights studying this area?

Lastly when in industry, are all the calculations generally worked out
in Matlab?

Look forward to your advice

tuurbo46 wrote:
> Hi
>
> In a few months, I have the option to study DSP as a final year
option
> at uni. I dont know the subject yet, but is my time better spent else
> were? I there lots of jobs in this area of industry?  Is it worth me
> having numerous sleepless nights studying this area?

Whetehr DSP is worth the effort depends on what you intend to
do after university. In my own experience, lots of people who
don't work hands-on with DSP (and even some who do...) know way
too little about the subject. For most people, the main input on
what can and what can not be done with computers, is inspired by
various Hollywood movies.

So IF you intend to work in some area that in some way touches
into DSP, however minuscule, do take the course! Gaining just
enough insight in DSP to pass an exam in the intro course is
enough to enable you to recognize (and avoid) the "SciFi projects"
that are way to numerous out there, in the real world.

> Lastly when in industry, are all the calculations generally worked
out
> in Matlab?

It depends. If you are a capable matlab user, you have a head
start in learning DSP and prototyping solutions when in work.
Outside universities and research labs, you usually end up
implementing your stuff with something else, though.

Check out this one,

% ================= Script looptest.m ============================
N=10000000; % Reduce if memory expires
V=0:N-1;
sum1=0;
sw1=cputime;
for n=1:N   sum1=sum1+V(n);
end
cputime1=cputime-sw1;
sw2=cputime;
sum2=sum(V);
cputime2=cputime-sw2;
disp(['Run-time, computing the sum of ',int2str(N),' elements:']);
disp(['For-loop          : ',num2str(cputime1),' seconds']);
disp(['Built-in function : ',num2str(cputime2),' seconds']);
% ==== End looptest.m ============================================

and I am sure you understand what I mean.

> Look forward to your advice

Rune

Hi,

My advice to you is to follow your heart. I don't mean that in a
flippant, Ferris-Bueller's-Day-Off kinda way, but that in these types
of long-range decisions you do what it is you really want to do. If
your heart is in it and you do it well, trust that you will be
rewarded.

--Randy


tuurbo46@yahoo.co.uk (tuurbo46) writes:

> Hi 
> 
> In a few months, I have the option to study DSP as a final year option
> at uni. I dont know the subject yet, but is my time better spent else
> were? I there lots of jobs in this area of industry?  Is it worth me
> having numerous sleepless nights studying this area?
> 
> Lastly when in industry, are all the calculations generally worked out
> in Matlab?
> 
> Look forward to your advice

-- 
Randy Yates
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications
Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
randy.yates@sonyericsson.com, 919-472-1124

tuurbo46 wrote:
> Hi 
> 
> In a few months, I have the option to study DSP as a final year option
> at uni. I dont know the subject yet, but is my time better spent else
> were? I there lots of jobs in this area of industry?  Is it worth me
> having numerous sleepless nights studying this area?
> 
> Lastly when in industry, are all the calculations generally worked out
> in Matlab?
> 
> Look forward to your advice

I don't know what to do with a question like yours. DSP is worth 
studying.  Whether it is worth studying in place of another subject also 
worth while depends on the career path you envision taking.

Mathematics is one of the Liberal Arts. You can only cheer from the 
sidelines without it. Similarly, signals are the essence of all 
communications. Nowadays, they are often manipulated digitally. Even a 
physician uses signals in ways that benefit greatly from knowing the 
capabilities and limitations of that processing, but I don't suggest 
that a course in DSP replace one in anatomy.

It's not just automobile designers who benefit from knowing what is 
under the hood.

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������

Hi again

Ok I shall tell you more about my history.  Prior to universtiy I
spent 10 years a mechanic, staight out of school.  At this point I
went to uni because I wanted to do electronics in a motorsport
enviroment(I bike and car racing).

Whilst on my placement year, I am working in marine electronics, and I
am enjoying it very much.  The company does not do DSP, but we buy in
transducers that do.

After speeking to my boss he said similar to you guys, and said it
could be an advantage but he does not know much about the area. Does
motorsport use lots of DSP?

Due to the world being (Mr 1.1, or 2.1), or you are in the doll queue,
im kind of holding back and thinking of picking an easier subject to
come out with a high mark (1.1, 2.1).  My boss said you are at uni to
learn and marks should not be a 100% concern.

Any more advice guys and girls?

Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> wrote in message news:<tqmdnbsS7vxoXv7fRVn-rw@rcn.net>...
> tuurbo46 wrote:
> > Hi 
> > 
> > In a few months, I have the option to study DSP as a final year option
> > at uni. I dont know the subject yet, but is my time better spent else
> > were? I there lots of jobs in this area of industry?  Is it worth me
> > having numerous sleepless nights studying this area?
> > 
> > Lastly when in industry, are all the calculations generally worked out
> > in Matlab?
> > 
> > Look forward to your advice
> 
> I don't know what to do with a question like yours. DSP is worth 
> studying.  Whether it is worth studying in place of another subject also 
> worth while depends on the career path you envision taking.
> 
> Mathematics is one of the Liberal Arts. You can only cheer from the 
> sidelines without it. Similarly, signals are the essence of all 
> communications. Nowadays, they are often manipulated digitally. Even a 
> physician uses signals in ways that benefit greatly from knowing the 
> capabilities and limitations of that processing, but I don't suggest 
> that a course in DSP replace one in anatomy.
> 
> It's not just automobile designers who benefit from knowing what is 
> under the hood.
> 
> Jerry

"tuurbo46" <tuurbo46@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message 
news:9ded7dd7.0504180953.e1a2ba0@posting.google.com...
> Hi again
>
> Ok I shall tell you more about my history.  Prior to universtiy I
> spent 10 years a mechanic, staight out of school.  At this point I
> went to uni because I wanted to do electronics in a motorsport
> enviroment(I bike and car racing).
>
> Whilst on my placement year, I am working in marine electronics, and I
> am enjoying it very much.  The company does not do DSP, but we buy in
> transducers that do.
>
> After speeking to my boss he said similar to you guys, and said it
> could be an advantage but he does not know much about the area. Does
> motorsport use lots of DSP?
>
> Due to the world being (Mr 1.1, or 2.1), or you are in the doll queue,
> im kind of holding back and thinking of picking an easier subject to
> come out with a high mark (1.1, 2.1).  My boss said you are at uni to
> learn and marks should not be a 100% concern.
>
> Any more advice guys and girls?
>

It may be a little difficult to figure out ahead of time but I would *not* 
recommend taking a course that is really of no interest or too deep to 
grasp.  So there is the question of motivation and there is the question of 
if you are adequately prepared with math, linear systems, ordinary 
differential equations, etc.  Not that the latter matters as if from a math 
course as such...  Very simple differential equations or difference 
equations are easy enough - so don't be put off by fancy words.

The world is rapidly becoming digital.  You already see digital transducers. 
So, the end result is sampled and digitized data streams.  Assuming you want 
to *do something* with those streams it may help to understand something 
about DSP - because manipulating data streams is what DSP is all about.

Motorsports?  How about records of fuel flow, air flow and rpm and .... that 
may be taken at different sample rates or with samples that alternate 
between 10 such signal sources?  What might one do with these sequences of 
numbers?  What if one or more of the signals is very noisy?  Then what?  The 
techniques you learn in a DSP course will help you deal with situations like 
this.

When I hire people I want to know what they can *do* and grades are more 
nice to have.  One of the last guys I hired with good grades didn't work out 
in the company we were in.

If all you learn is one good trick in a course, then it was probably worth 
it.  Ditto for books.
Do get Rick Lyon's book on DSP.  Understand that DSP deals with an 
abstracted view and hope there's a lab or some such thing to help you make 
it real.

Fred 

I would suspect that in motorsport you'd deal more with a control
system type environment as opposed to DSP.  If you have a Control
System course available, I'd suggest that that might better suit your
end needs.

In a nutshell, in the DSP world there is a sender and a receiver of a
signal, the 'DSP' bit is massaging that signal to extract useful
information out of it.  How many of those areas do you see in
motorsport that you would benefit from the inner workings of what's
going on?  I don't see many, but I could be wrong.

Control systems on the other hand take into account the interations of
systems and sub-systems to ensure that the overall component is
'stable'.  Knowing how these systems interact and how to control them
might be more applicable to your intended field.  Engines, braking
systems, etc are all managed by either electrical or mechanical control
systems.

I can tell by rereading this that a few people here might disagree as
I've made some very broad stroke remarks, but I'll still maintain that
you would see a lot more of control system type problems than true DSP
ones in your field.

Good luck,
QN

Rune Allnor wrote:
> For most people, the main input on
> what can and what can not be done with computers, is inspired by
> various Hollywood movies.

If only I could get the software they have in the movies.

Sure, I can sharpen up this dimly lit, black and white .02 megapixel 
surveilence picture.  <presses 'enhance' button>.  Yeah, there's the 
robber. He's the fifth one on the left.  You can tell him by the small 
mole above his left eye and the scar on his right knee.

"Mark Borgerding" <mark@borgerding.net> wrote in message 
news:b3_8e.6849$0d6.5304@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
> If only I could get the software they have in the movies.
>
> Sure, I can sharpen up this dimly lit, black and white .02 megapixel 
> surveilence picture.  <presses 'enhance' button>.  Yeah, there's the 
> robber. He's the fifth one on the left.  You can tell him by the small 
> mole above his left eye and the scar on his right knee.

No problem -- You just calculate an appropriate set of Eigenrobbers from the 
global mug shot database.  Then you can just decompose the surveillance 
image into a weighted sum of Eigenrobbers, and reconstruct with a higher 
resolution basis.

--
Matt

"Matt Timmermans" <mt0000@sympatico.nospam-remove.ca> wrote in message
news:Xe%8e.4390$Jg5.409286@news20.bellglobal.com...
>
> "Mark Borgerding" <mark@borgerding.net> wrote in message
> news:b3_8e.6849$0d6.5304@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
> > If only I could get the software they have in the movies.
> >
> > Sure, I can sharpen up this dimly lit, black and white .02 megapixel
> > surveilence picture.  <presses 'enhance' button>.  Yeah, there's the
> > robber. He's the fifth one on the left.  You can tell him by the small
> > mole above his left eye and the scar on his right knee.
>
> No problem -- You just calculate an appropriate set of Eigenrobbers from the
> global mug shot database.  Then you can just decompose the surveillance
> image into a weighted sum of Eigenrobbers, and reconstruct with a higher
> resolution basis.

LOL!