43s

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ACOUSTICS, ON SIGNAL SPEECH, PROCESSING, AND OCTOBER

1976

Book Reviews
Orthogonal Transforms for Digital Signal Processing-N. Ahmed and K. R. Rao (Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1975, 263 pp., $24.10). Reviewed by Harry C. Andrews. This book is clearly motivated by the current stateof the art in digital signal processing utilizing orthogonal transformations. The subject is a very dynamic one and, as such, should make this text a useful addition to modern day literature utilizing computers and signals. The book provides a quite useful function of bringing together, in one place, many recent ideas scatteredthroughouttheliterature in diverse notationsand equally varied application areas. The reader should beforewarned, however, that the orthogonal transforms alluded to in the title, might be best characterized as conveniently digitally implementable as contrasted to traditional orthogonal transforms of the continuous mathematical ilk. However, be that as it may, the text does deserve a place in signal processing literature, and this reviewer hopes to aid in this effort with the following comments. In general, the text is well organized and clearly represents considerable effortuponthepart of theauthors.Thepublisher did an excellent job of typesetting, resulting in a visually pleasing presentation of some often too confusing notation. The book consists of 10 chapters, each of which is complete with its own references and problem sets. This reviewer was more than impressed by the caliber, quality, and quantity of problems at the end of each chapter making it clear that the reader will benefit from the arduous work put in by previous sets of graduatestudent guinea pigs. The text material is properly broken into two categories; the first seven chapters developing theory and transformtools,the remaining three chapters demonstrating applications. Chapter1, Introduction, is relatively shortbut provides a good list of references as well as a useful motivational problem set. Chapter 2, Fourier Representation of Signals, develops a Fourier series techniques for periodic signals (which the authors unfortunately neglect to specify earlyin the chapter). Temporal auto and cross correlations and convolutions are developed for periodic signals, but there tends to be a lack of motivation explaining to the reader why he needs these operations. Unfortunately, the sampling theorem is confusingly stated. Why try to describe the sampling theorem for a finite duration signal which is then extended to be periodic having a finite bandwidth? Either the signal has finite extent and infinitebandwidthor vice versa. The periodic extension of a finite duration signal clouds the band-limited concept. In addition, the sampling theorem proof suffers from unnecessarily confusing notation. Finally, equation 2.5-5 has a typographical error, one of the very few this reviewer found in the text, providing a tribute to the editorialprocess of the authors and publishers. Chapter 3 , Fouriev Representation of Sequences, introduces the discrete Fourier transform, but the authors slip over the cyclic nature of convolution and correlation. They miss a golden opportunity to introduce these cyclic properties when they develop the matrix formulation of Section 3.3. Also, the matrixformulations left totheproblemsatthe end of the chapter might better beincluded in the text. In Chapter 4, Fast Fourier Transform, the authors development of the FFT algorithm is extremely complicated and probably is best skipped upon first reading. Suffice it to say that a few good referencesand matrixnotation would considerablysimplify the chapter. However, the inclusion of the FFT subroutine is useful (but dangerous as it could be obsoleted in the future) and the problems concluding the chapter are quite good. Chapter 5, A Class of Orthogonal Functions, introduces the concept of sequency quite nicely. The chapter is short, well organized and nicely presented. The problems are quite interesting and again some of the material covered in the problems probably should have been delegated to the main body of the text. Chapter 6 , Walsh Hadamard Transform, spends a considerable number of pages onthe Walsh transform.Unfortunately, the authorsget bogged down in the myriad of different fast transform algorithms probably due to their intimatefamiliarity with this subject (see the list of references concluding the chapter) and the lack of the fiIter of time to winnow out the wheat of this subject from the chaff in the literature. The chapterintroducesthe dyadic shift property of the Walsh transform but then also develops a modified Walsh Hadamard transform (MWHT), the motivation and usefulness of which is completely lacking. Finally Chapter 7 , Miscellaneous Orthogonal Transforms, concludes thetheoretical development of the text by listing a variety of additionalorthogonal transforms which in some way relate to those developments so far. Unfortunately, these transforms are not motivated enough to convince the reader he should wade through the transform algorithm details. Again the authors are probably too familiar with the subject to provide an impartial presentation of the usefulness and/or implementation of these miscellaneous transforms. Chapter 8, Generalized Wiener Filtering, is the first applications chapter and develops a nice derivation of the generalized filter. The authors present suboptimal implementations, thereby suggesting many of the applications of the transforms developed earlier. Chapter9, Data Compression, derives the Karhunen-Lothe transform and suggests the use of many other transforms as tools in data compression. Experimental results from the literature including one-dimensional ECG signals and two-dimensional image signals are presented along with some comparison curves utilizing Markov models and rate distortion theory. Finally Chapter 10, Feature Selection in Pattern Recognition, develops the use of many of the above transforms in a pattern recognition environment as potentially useful feature selectors and dimensionality reducers. The chapter suffers from the need to develop a minimal pattern recognition background to appreciate the use of othogonal transforms as feature selectors, The authors do a credible job in filling in this background,butthe material is necessarily sketchydue to space limitations. In concluding this review it must be emphasized that the authors have treaded where others have feared to venture. In so doing they have developed a useful book as a first effort in this exciting area of digital signal processing and general orthogonal transforms. In places the text suffers from notational confusion and too detailed presentations. However, this is due more to the authors enthusiasm for the subject than any inadequacy on their part, The only real criticism of the material in the book lies in its practical usefulness. It has yet to be demonstrated that the variety of transforms developed herein will all be useful in subsequent digital signal processing applications. However, thanks to the authors, we now have an easy reference textbook as a source for the development of such applications in the future. Time must now be our judge.

Harry C. Andrews (S66-M68), for a photograph and biography, see page 106 of t h e February 1976 issue of this TRANSACTIONS.