Mismatched Filtering of Sonar Signals

A replica correlator (matched filter) is an optimum processor for a receiver employing a pulse of continuous wave (CW) signal in a white Gaussian noise background. In an active sonar, however, when the target of interest has low Doppler shift and is embedded in a high reverberation background, this is not so. High sidelobes of the correlator frequency response pass a significant portion of the signal contained in the mainlobe of the reverberation spectrum. In order to reduce the sidelobes of the correlator output spectrum and at the same time keep the increase in its 3 dB bandwidth to a small amount, we propose lengthening of the replica of the transmitted signal and weighting it by a Kaiser window. It is demonstrated that by extending the weighted replica by 50 percent compared with the transmitted signal, it is possible to reduce the sidelobe levels to at least 40 dB below the mainlobe peak, with the concomitant increase of the 3 dB band-width by less than 5 percent. The degradation in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance for such a ?mismatched? filter receiver with respect to the matched filter is less than 1.5 dB.     

Scan conversion of radar images

The object of scan conversion is to resample a polar-sampled image into a Cartesian format while retaining integrity of the geometry and content of the image. Linear interpolation and decimation in two dimensions in the context of scan conversion are reviewed. Appropriate approximations of the nonlinear relationship between Cartesian and polar coordinates are then made to allow the application of the linear interpolation theory to produce a number of practical scan conversion algorithms. Together with an image prefiltering process, which is applied to areas which require scan conversion decimation, an effective scheme is presented     

Some Limiting Forms of an Innovations-Based Discrete-Time Detection Algorithm

The simplicity and breadth of application inherent in a log likelihood ratio (LLR) test based on the use of the innovations representation in discrete-time detection theory are demonstrated.In particular, it is shown that the innovations-based detection algorithm (IBDA) resulting from this theory contains the solutions to several well-known Gaussian detection problems as special cases.     

Ordered Statistic CFAR Processing for Two-Parameter Distributions with Variable Skewness

Rohling has developed a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) technique based on ordered statistics of the reference cells. An extension of his technique is presented that maintains a CFAR for two-parameter distributions, with both mean power and skewness variable. The new method is therefore more robust, but has higher CFAR loss than the single-parameter technique.     

Growler detection in sea clutter with coherent radars

Ship navigation through ice-infested waters is a problem of deep concern to the Canadian shipping and exploration industry. Conventional marine radars have difficulty detecting small pieces of glacial ice called growlers which are very hazardous to vessels if struck. In an effort to improve detection performance, X-band radar measurements were collected and analyzed to determine the characteristics of clutter and growler returns that could lead to their separability. These analyses suggested that coherent medium dwell-time processing (i.e., integration times of a fraction of a second) could provide improvement In growler detectability over conventional methods; and long dwell-time processing (i.e., integration times on the order of seconds) could provide even further improvement. We report on the performance of two new coherent, medium dwell-time detectors. A third detector which is representative of conventional marine radar serves as a basis for comparison Although significant improvement in growler detectability is achieved, the two coherent detectors still fall short of operational requirements. This leads to the development of a long dwell-time detector which provides considerably better performance. Empirical results indicate that this new detector could well satisfy stringent operational requirements     

Estimating the number of signals using reference noise samples

Criteria for estimating the number of signals in the case of small-sample populations are considered. The criteria introduced by M. Wax and T. Kailath (1985) do not work well in this case. Two new criteria based on information theoretic and eigenmode composition-based criteria are proposed, assuming a known noise covariance. Simulation results show a significant improvement in the performance of estimating the number of signals in the small-sample case, by the use of the new criteria combined with an estimate of the noise covariance obtained from reference noise samples