Power Spectra Estimation

1.0 INTRODUCTION Perhaps one of the more important application areas of digital signal processing (DSP) is the power spectral estimation of periodic and random signals. Speech recognition problems use spectrum analysis as a preliminary measurement to perform speech bandwidth reduction and further acoustic processing. Sonar systems use sophisticated spectrum analysis to locate submarines and surface vessels. Spectral measurements in radar are used to obtain target location and velocity information. The vast variety of measurements spectrum analysis encompasses is perhaps limitless and it will thus be the intent of this article to provide a brief and fundamental introduction to the concepts of power spectral estimation.