Hartley Transform—An Alternate Tool for Digital Signal Processing

The Hartley transform is an efficient and economical alternative to the Fourier transform in its applications to the field of digital signal processing. The characteristics of the Hartley transform are almost the same as that of its progenitor, with a conspicuous exception that the Hartley transform is purely a real valued function unlike the Fourier transform. Despite the fact that the Fourier transform and the Hartley transform are similar, with varying kernels, some of the properties associated with them differ marginally. The direct and inverse Hartley transforms posses the same kernal and hence the Hartley transform has the twin distinction of being both self reciprocal and having the neat property shared both by nature and computers of occupying the real domain. Basically being a real valued function, it is efficient and economical in its applications. A brief comparative analysis of the properties of these twin transforms is incorporated.