Interview QA » Navigating DSP Job Opportunities: Skills, Companies, and Salary

Navigating DSP Job Opportunities: Skills, Companies, and Salary

dsp job algorithm wireless standard software optimization

Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) are essential for high-speed processing in applications like mobile devices and communication modems. Unlike traditional processors, DSPs excel at performing complex mathematical operations. Modern wireless standards like WLAN, WiMAX, and LTE generate complex OFDM/OFDMA-based signal vectors that DSP chips are designed to handle efficiently.

In the past, only single-core DSPs were available. Nowadays, multi-core DSPs are engineered to provide parallel pipeline computing, significantly boosting performance. A strong understanding of VLIW techniques, SIMD operations, and DSP building blocks is highly advantageous.

Commonly used DSPs include the C6000 series from Texas Instruments, the MSC81XX series from Freescale, SHARC DSPs from Analog Devices, and Cortex A8 and OMAP3 from ARM. DSP chip manufacturers develop specialized instructions for complex operations like CORDIC, FFT, FIR filters, and complex divisions.

Skills Required for DSP Jobs

Here’s a breakdown of the essential skills needed for a DSP role:

  • DSP architecture and DSP algorithms
  • Software optimization for a specific DSP chip
  • Knowledge of at least one wireless standard (e.g., WLAN, WiMAX, LTE, GSM, CDMA)
  • Proficiency in C/C++ coding

Companies Hiring DSP Professionals

Many companies actively recruit DSP engineers, including:

  • Tensilica
  • Cavium Inc.
  • Ittiam Systems
  • Marvell Semiconductor
  • TCS
  • NVIDIA
  • Orca Systems
  • Qualcomm
  • Xilinx
  • Wipro
  • CEVA
  • LSI
  • ARM
  • Intel
  • TI

Expected Salary Range

Experienced: Rs. 465706 to Rs. 2936142