  We introduce Xampling, a unified framework for signal acquisition and
processing of signals in a union of subspaces. The main functions of this
framework are two. Analog compression that narrows down the input bandwidth
prior to sampling with commercial devices. A nonlinear algorithm then detects
the input subspace prior to conventional signal processing. A representative
union model of spectrally-sparse signals serves as a test-case to study these
Xampling functions. We adopt three metrics for the choice of analog
compression: robustness to model mismatch, required hardware accuracy and
software complexities. We conduct a comprehensive comparison between two
sub-Nyquist acquisition strategies for spectrally-sparse signals, the random
demodulator and the modulated wideband converter (MWC), in terms of these
metrics and draw operative conclusions regarding the choice of analog
compression. We then address lowrate signal processing and develop an algorithm
for that purpose that enables convenient signal processing at sub-Nyquist rates
from samples obtained by the MWC. We conclude by showing that a variety of
other sampling approaches for different union classes fit nicely into our
framework.
