Book Review
Title: Signals and Systems in Biomedical Engineering:
Signal Processing and Physiological Systems Modeling Finding the right material as a basis for a course on biomedical signal processing' due to the inherent interdisciplinary character of the subject and structuring the contents so that the course is both engaging for one student and not too taxing for the other is not a trivial task when the audience consists of people with an engineering background as well as people with a medical background. The author has taken up this challenge on the basis of his experience in teaching a course on Signal Processing and Physiological Systems Modeling. The book consist of 15 chapters, which can be roughly divided into three groups; the first five chapters deal with the basics of signal processing and discuss the tools at hand for signal processing and system modelling, Chapters 6 to 8 treat some more advanced topics, while Chapters 9 to 15 concentrate on the use of the tools for modelling, mainly on the basis of real-life examples and experimental data. Each chapter concludes with a number of exercises. There are both traditional 'paper-and-pencil' problems as well as more elaborate 'programming exercises', in which students are encouraged to solve cases by developing their own computer programs (in the computer language/environment of their own choice). The book comes with a CD-ROM from which a program, 'SIGSYS', can be installed which illustrates applications of several of the key concepts discussed in the book, viz. 'convolution', 'sampling and quantisation', 'spectral analysis', and 'wavelet analysis' in an interactive manner. Overall, the contents of the book make a solid impression; clearly this book is the result of evolution of lecture notes used over the years into a more definite form and not a hastily put-together collection of chapters. It is easy to see that the author has carefully planned the level of complexity of the text to be interesting for engineering as well as medical-oriented students. The book is very clearly written, and apart from some minor misprints in Chapter 2, I did not encounter errors in the equations or inconsistencies in the text. The author goes through great lengths to explain all subjects in quite some detail, and some of the earlier parts of the book might read as a bit going into too much detail (e.g. the elaborate treatments of e.g. Fourier analysis and Laplace transformations) when considering that those parts are then meant especially for students with a medical background (engineering students will most likely have gained the knowledge about those subjects already in their earlier courses). However, the chapters never get boring thanks to the many examples, and the 'detailed treatment' is never too difficult. The 'basic tools' techniques explained in those early chapters all will be used in the later chapters in real-life case examples, so there is an immediate reward for studying them. In that respect, Chapter 6, which concentrates on time-frequency methods and especially on wavelets, is a bit different in the sense that there is no real 'application example-case chapter' available in the book that uses wavelets. Having said that, the treatment of wavelets as introductory text in Chapter 6 is by far the best I have come across in the five years or so that I have been desperately looking for a suitable introductory text on wavelets to present to my students. The same praise needs to go to Chapter 7 which although quite short, gives a very clear introduction to the subject of estimating signals in noise. The later chapters, each covering real-life examples of modelling, are entertaining, although maybe slightly biased towards the area of the author's personal interests; muscle physiology and electrophysiology. This never becomes a problem though, there are more than enough different cases to choose from. The software on the CD is a very simple to install stand-alone program with subsections that demonstrate what happens when we process biomedical signals (example data files are included, and your own can be added) using e.g. spectrum analysis, or wavelets and play with the parameters. Given its straightforwardness, it is very suitable for quick demonstrations during the course lectures. However, also outside the lectures it can be useful - there are also (almost hidden, in the help file) very worthwhile exercises/assignments included for students to experiment with the methods. The CD would probably have benefited from a bit more 'advertising' and documentation within the book itself. All in all, I would say that to my opinion this book would be a very good choice as material for a biomedical signal processing/modelling course. It has a solid description of the basic methods, an excellent introduction to wavelets, and more than enough entertaining examples of real-life applications to choose from.
Mark van Gils
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