Digital Signal Processing: State-of-the-Art at CERN and Recommendations

Dramatic hardware performance improvements over the last decades have paved the way to the ascent of digital techniques for processing signals, with a concurrent and parallel interest in Digital Signal Processing (DSPing) and in the use of Digital Signal Processors (DSPs). Recent discussions within PS showed that there are needs for DSP-qualified manpower in new projects that cannot be fully satisfied internally. In order to determine how PS can best profit from the growing importance and efficiency of DSP technologies, with an effort compatible with the available divisional resources, a DSP working group was created. Its mandate is to advise PS management on the best way to proceed in the DSPs and DSPing domains. In particular, the issues targeted are wide-ranging, from evaluating the state-of-the-art at CERN to hardware standardisation and required training. This report gives the findings of the working group and presents its closing recommendations.