Teaching basic measurement algorithms via Internet

Present-day measurement is oriented to processing digital signals, i.e., sequences of quantized samples of an originally analog signal. The sequences are processed by means of combinations of standard and special numerical algorithms. Knowledge and understanding of the basic signal processing algorithms is therefore a basic condition for the successful design of a complete algorithm for solving a specific measurement task. This paper presents a modern way of teaching basic signal processing algorithms frequently used in measurement, without requiring students to come to the computer laboratory. Students need only to have at their disposal a computer provided with a common web browser. The paper describes materials for teaching three basic DSP algorithms (DFT/FFT, digital filters, and correlation), but the described procedure can be used for teaching other digital processing algorithms as well. All what is necessary for using this type of teaching is MATLAB, the relevant toolboxes, and the new component of MATLAB, called MATLAB Web Server installed on one computer only (the server).