Perhaps the one word that best describes this text is toolbox. Complete with a diskette and source code in FORTRAN 77, it is as much a piece of software as a textbook. The software is a general-purpose signal processing library developed at Sandia National Labs. The aim is to give the reader fast and easy access to digital signal processing. The presentations in each chapter are in the form of short sample programs that demonstrate calling sequences. Exercises are abundant and appear at the end of each chapter. Theory is kept to a minimum and the authors provide only enough background to assist the user in assembling input and interpreting results. Pointers to more theoretical discussions are provided through references in the text.

Following two introductory chapters on background and notation, chapter 3 presents the discrete Fourier transform and FFT routines. Spectral analysis and coherence estimation are demonstrated in chapter 4, and chapter 5 introduces two routines for the analysis of frequency and time domain response in linear systems. Chapters 6 through 8 deal with digital filtering and include the standard forms for IIR and FIR filters. Chapter 9 covers convolution and correlation. The remaining chapters present selected topics: decimation in chapter 10, curve fitting in chapter 11, adaptive filters in chapter 12, waveform analysis in chapter 13, and data windowing in chapter 14.

With its applications orientation, this text is probably best utilized as a companion text in a course in digital signal processing. It should work nicely as a text in a laboratory environment. The practicing engineer who wants “instant signal processing” on the bookshelf will also be interested.