A data processing system has a system bus, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a signal processor, a memory, compression and packing units, and a debug unit. The ADC samples a baseband signal, and provides a digitized signal representative of the baseband signal the system bus. The signal processing block converts the digitized signal to a processed signal in the frequency domain. The memory is coupled to the system bus and is for storing the processed signal. The compression unit is coupled to the system bus and is for capturing the processed signal and compressing the processed signal to produce a compressed signal. The packing unit is coupled to the compression unit and is for packing the compressed signal to produce a packed signal. The debug unit is coupled to the packing unit and is for converting the compressed and packed signal to a diagnostic message. The disclosed data processing system and method provides diagnostic messages in near real-time.