A Mathematical Review of Polyphase Filterbank Implementations for Radio Astronomy

Abstract: The technique of polyphase filterbanks is commonly used for signal processing in radio astronomy. The rapid and ongoing evolution of parallel hardware architectures requires optimised imple-mentations of such techniques to be redeveloped. However, much of the published research regarding polyphase filterbanks refers the reader to signal processing books with a more general scope. Furthermore, these references tend to focus on the design of filters, rather than their implementation. For this reason, this work presents a mathematical background for the implementation of a polyphase filterbank specific to radio astronomy. It also addresses the advantages and disadvantages of polyphase filterbanks in comparison with more commonly used techniques