At Arizona State University (ASU) and other
major metropolitan universities, DSP-related courses are well
attended by distance learning students. In order to provide on-line
laboratory experiences to distance learners the ASU Multidisciplinary
Initiative on Distance Learning (MIDL) laboratory developed and tested
successfully an exemplary laboratory prototype tool, called Java-DSP (J-DSP).
This simulation environment enables students to establish and execute DSP
simulations from any computer equipped with a browser.
J-DSP, a distance learning paradigm, has a
rich suite of signal processing functionalities. All functions in J-DSP
appear as graphical blocks that are divided into groups according to their
functionality. Selecting and establishing individual blocks can be done by
a drag-and-drop-process. Each block is linked to a signal processing
function. Figure 1 shows the J-DSP editor's user interface. By connecting blocks
together, a variety of DSP systems can be simulated. Blocks parameters can
be edited through dialog windows, allowing the user to change the
corresponding function’s parameters to desired values and/or to view
results. They can easily be manipulated (i.e. edit, move, delete and
connect) within the specified drawing area. System execution is dynamic,
which means that any change at any point of a system will automatically
take effect in all related blocks. Any number of block windows can be left
open to enable viewing results at more than one point in the system.
The remainder of this short J-DSP tutorial
provides further information on J-DSP. Some documentation that follows
requires Adobe Reader that you can install from
Adobe's web site. Also
note that if you experience problems with loading J-DSP, these can be
solved simply by installing the
latest Java virtual
machine from Sun. |