ANALYTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING &
EMBEDDED LOOPS
ADC Quantization, Fast Fourier Transforms, and RTOS Task Scheduling
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Table of Contents & Preface
A mathematical overview of digital signal processing and embedded software loops
required to control real-time electrical hardware.
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Chapter 1: Quantization Noise & ADC Dynamics
1.1 Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio
Analog-to-digital converters introduce quantization error. The mathematical limit of
an ideal N-bit ADC is derived via uniform probability distributions.
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Chapter 2: Discrete and Fast Fourier Transforms
2.1 Radix-2 Decimation in Time Algorithms
FFT algorithms optimize spectral analysis operations from O(N^2) to O(N log N)
complexity, allowing rapid harmonic profiling inside running protective relays.
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Chapter 3: Digital Filter Design (FIR vs IIR)
3.1 Butterworth vs Chebyshev Formulations
Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters provide steep roll-offs with minimal
coefficient steps, but require careful evaluation to prevent phase distortions.
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Chapter 4: Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS)
4.1 Preemptive Scheduling and Priority Inversion
Deterministic system execution requires fixed-priority preemptive scheduling.
Priority inheritance protocols prevent task blocking across shared resources.
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Chapter 5: Digital Control Loop Delays
5.1 Z-Transform Mapping and Execution Latency
The time delay between ADC sampling and PWM updating introduces phase lag, which must
be modeled via Z-domain transformations to prevent system instability.
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Chapter 6: Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Emulation
6.1 Real-Time Solver Step Limitations
HIL testing uses specialized processors to solve system state equations at sub-
microsecond intervals, validating physical controllers before deployment.
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Chapter 7: Signal Sizing Problems
7.1 Nyquist Frequency Aliasing Verification
This chapter walks through numerical exercises calculating sampling rates, anti-
aliasing cutoff points, and execution times for low-latency control loops.
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Appendix & Code Structures
Contains reference C code blocks implementing fixed-point PID algorithms and basic
interrupt service routines.
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