Configurable processing for real-time spectral estimation

This paper presents a system for real-time implementation of the fourth order Modified Covariance spectral estimator, which, when used in conjunction with pulsed Doppler blood how detectors, has been shown to offer increased sensitivity in atherosclerotic disease detection. The computational burden incurred with the Modified Covariance method is considerably seater than that of the conventional FFT method. This has led to separate studies to evaluate the cost and performance of firstly, transputer/DSP based platforms and secondly application specific custom circuitry, for implementation of the algorithm in real-time. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these different approaches are reviewed in this paper resulting in the design of a combined custom/DSP based system. Copyright (C) 1998 IFAC.