Definition: DSP

(1) See digital service provider, data storage provider and demand-side platform.

(2) (Digital Signal Processor) A chip that provides ultra-fast mathematical instruction sequences. Originally developed for signal processing (see definition #3 below), DSP chips are also used to accelerate AI inference. In the late 1970s, Texas Instrument's popular Speak & Spell game was credited for having the first commercial DSP chip. See AI inference.

A DSP provides high-speed shift-and-add and multiply-and-add sequences, which are required in these math-intensive applications. DSP chips are found in many devices including sound cards, modems, TVs, smartphones, and computers. See DSC and Hexagon.

(3) (Digital Signal Processing) A category of techniques that manipulate real-world signals. Sound, temperature, images and motion are converted into digital data and analyzed using Fast Fourier Transform and other algorithms. Chips specialized for DSP are common (see definition #2 above).

Easier in Digital
Once reduced to binary numbers, a signal's components can be isolated, analyzed and rearranged more easily than in analog form. Digital signal processing is used in biomedicine, sonar, radar, seismology, audio, speech and music processing, imaging and communications. See image processing and home theater.

In Your Car?

Digital signal processing is used to create surround sound effects, witness this DSP screen in an earlier automobile head unit. Considering DSP is hardly a household word, "sound effects" would have been a better title for a car stereo. See user interface and head unit.