Routines (alphabetical) > Routines: B > BLK_CON

# BLK_CON

The BLK_CON function computes a “fast convolution” of a digital signal and an impulse-response sequence. It returns the filtered signal.

This routine is written in the IDL language. Its source code can be found in the file `blk_con.pro` in the `lib` subdirectory of the IDL distribution.

## Example

The following lines create the plot shown at the top of this topic:

; Create a filter of length P = 32

filter = REPLICATE(1.0 ,32) ;Set all points to 1.0

filter(2*INDGEN(16)) = 0.5 ;Set even points to 0.5

; Create a sampled signal with random noise

signal = SIN((FINDGEN(1000)/35.0)^2.5)

noise = (RANDOMU(SEED,1000)-.5)/2.

signal = signal + noise

; Convolve the filter and signal using block convolution

result = BLK_CON(filter, signal)

plot1 = PLOT(signal, TITLE='Signal + Noise', $

DIMENSIONS=[960,480], LAYOUT=[2,1,1])

plot2 = PLOT(result, TITLE='Convolved Filter and Signal', $

LAYOUT=[2,1,2], /CURRENT)

## Syntax

Result = BLK_CON( Filter, Signal [, B_LENGTH=scalar] [, /DOUBLE] )

## Return Value

This function returns a vector with the same length as Signal. If either of the input arguments are double-precision or the DOUBLE keyword is set, the result is double-precision, otherwise the result is single-precision.

## Arguments

### Filter

A P-element floating-point vector containing the impulse-response sequence of the digital filter.

### Signal

An n-element floating-point vector containing the discrete signal samples.

## Keywords

### B_LENGTH

A scalar specifying the block length of the subdivided signal segments. If this parameter is not specified, a near-optimal value is chosen by the algorithm based upon the length P of the impulse-response sequence. If P is a value less than 11 or greater than 377, then B_LENGTH must be specified.

B_LENGTH must be greater than the filter length, P, and less than the number of signal samples.

### DOUBLE

Set this keyword to force the computation to be done using double-precision arithmetic.

## Version History

Pre 4.0 | Introduced

## See Also

CONVOL, CONVOL_FFT