Engineering and the Environment

ISVR2010 Electronics and Digital Audio Technology

Knowledge and understanding
Having successfully completed the module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

  • Analogue active filter design and selection for specific applications.
  • Data acquisition including analogue to digital conversion, sampling and quantisation.
  • Digital signal processing principles and techniques
  • Digital FIR and IIR filter design techniques
  • Applications of digital signal processing to audio, including audio effects, data compression and synthesis.

Cognitive (thinking) skills
Having successfully completed the module, you will be able to:

  • Read, understand and interpret the literature relating to digital audio
  • Recognise and select appropriate techniques for the analysis and design of digital audio systems.

Practical, subject specific skills

  • Ability to design or select analogue filters for audio applications (exercised in loudspeaker design project, ISVR2007)
  • Ability to specify data acquisition systems

Module Details

Title: Electronics and Digital Audio Technology
Code: ISVR2010
Year: Acoustical Engineering, Acoustics and Music Part 2
Semester: Semester 1

CATS points: 10 CAT points (= 100 hours) ECTS points: NaN
Level: Undergraduate
Co-ordinator(s):

Pre-requisites and / or co-requisites

Part I Analogue Electronics and Transducers

The aims of this module are to introduce the principles of digital signal processing and its application in audio technology.

  • To introduce the student to the theoretical basis for the analysis and design of digital audio systems.
  • To describe example analysis and design problems in digital audio and derive solutions.

Active Filters

  • Principles of operation.
  • Analysis of inverting and non-inverting configurations.
  • Analysis and design of low-pass and high-pass filters.
Sampling
  • Principles of sampling of an analogue signal, and analysis in the time and frequency domains.
  • The Nyquist sampling criterion; aliasing.
Quantisation
  • Quantisation of sampled signals.
  • Quantisation noise and signal-to-noise ratio.
Analogue-Digital Converters
  • Block diagram and principle of operation of ADC and DAC.
FIR filters
  • Principles of a finite impulse response (FIR) filter.
  • Delay and echo.
IIR Filters
  • Principles of infinite impulse response (IIR) filters.
  • z-transform stability.
Applications
  • Principles of digital audio effects and other selected applications.

Study time allocation

Contact hours: 24 lectures plus 1 laboratory session
Private study hours: Up to 76 hours
Total study time: NaN hours

Teaching and learning methods

Laboratory session demonstrating digital principles.
The lectures include theory, examples, and demonstrations.

Example problems are provided for all topics. Students are also asked to solve simple examples in class.

Resources and reading list

Secondary text

Applications of digital signal processing to audio and acoustics, M. Kahrs
K. Brandenburg, Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998
0 7923 8130

The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing, S.W. Smith, California Technical Publishing 1997
0 9660176 3 3
available as .pdf from
http://www.dspguide.com/

Assessment methods

Assessment method Number% contribution to final mark
Exam1100