Choosing Between DSPs, FPGAs, Microprocessors and ASICs to Implement Digital Signal Processing

What type of device should you use for your digital signal processing application: DSP, microprocessor, FPGA or ASIC? This paper examines these technologies from a DSP perspective and objectively illustrates their differences so a designer or manager has basis to make a decision. This paper should help a manager decide whether they are making a point solution decision or a platform decision that can solve many problems. Enough information is provided so that an appropriate decision can be made in either case.