Discrete-Time Systems 2.4 2000/07/21 2002/08/13 00:00:00.004 GMT-5 Don Johnson dhj@rice.edu CJ Ganier seejaie@rice.edu Don Johnson dhj@rice.edu John Austin Cottrell jac3@rice.edu digital signal processing Discrete-Time Systems DSP Discrete-time calculations are generally easier and more flexible than analog ones, allowing for practical calculation of Fourier transform. When we developed analog systems, interconnecting the circuit elements provided a natural starting place for constructing useful devices. In discrete-time signal processing, we are not limited by hardware considerations but by what can be constructed in software. One of the first analog systems we described was the amplifier. We found that implementing an amplifier was difficult in analog systems, requiring an op-amp at least. What is the discrete-time implementation of an amplifier? Is this especially hard or easy? In discrete-time signal processing, an amplifier amounts to a multiplication, a very easy operation to perform. In fact, we will discover that frequency-domain implementation of systems, wherein we multiply the input signal's Fourier transform by a frequency response, is not only a viable alternative, but also a computationally efficient one. We begin with discussing the underlying mathematical structure of linear, shift-invariant systems, and devise how software filters can be constructed.