TRIMMED-MEAN DETECTOR FOR NONCOHERENT DISTRIBUTIONS.

Abstract

Sea-clutter measurements using high-resolution radar indicate that clutter cross-section returns do not usually follow a Rayleigh distribution. The log-normal and contaminated-normal descriptions of sea clutter have been considered, and detection curves for these distributions have been generated for both the mean and median detectors - the median being better for the log-normal distribution and the mean being slightly better for the contaminated-normal. In this report, the trimmed-mean detector is proposed as a detector against these clutter distributions. By using a Monte Carlo technique, equations are obtained for the threshold values, and curves of probabilities of detection (P sub d) are drawn for false-alarm probabilities (P sub fa) ranging from 0.01 to 10 to the minus 9th power. When one compares the mean, median, and trimmed-mean detectors, the conclusion is that the trimmed-mean is the better detector against either of the two distributions considered. In fact, for the log-normal distribution, when 10 samples are available, the trimmed-mean requires 5 dB less S/N ratio than the mean in order to obtain P sub d = 0.9 and P sub fa = 10 to the minus 8th power. Unfortunately, whereas the mean and median are easily implemented, the implementation of the trimmed-mean is very difficult because of the necessity of ordering the samples. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 11, 1969
Accession Number
AD0699150

Entities

People

  • Gerard V. Trunk

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Clutter
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Equations
  • False Alarms
  • High Resolution
  • Mathematics
  • Normal Distribution
  • Probability
  • Sea Clutter
  • Warning Systems

Readers

  • Radar Systems Engineering.
  • Regression Analysis.