In 1994 in my role as Technical Program Chair for the 17th Annual International Conference of
the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society I solicited proposals for mini-symposia
to provide delegates with accessible summaries of important issues in research areas outside
their particular specializations. Terry Peters and his colleagues submitted a proposal for a
symposium on Fourier Trans forms and Biomedical Engineering whose goal was to demystify the
Fourier transform and describe its practical application in biomedi cal situations. This was to
be achieved by presenting the concepts in straightforward physical terms with examples drawn
for the parti cipants work in physiological signal analysis and medical imaging. The
mini-symposia proved to be a great success and drew a large and appreciative audience. The only
complaint being that the time allocated 90 minutes was not adequate to allow the participants
to elaborate their ideas adequately. I understand that this feedback helped the authors to
develop this book.
