Detection of a weak target in the presence of strong interferers

Abstract

The detection of a weak target in a hostile environment consisting of ambient noise, distant shipping, and ‘‘known’’ interferers, such as passing ships, is treated by applying a parametrically adaptive signal-processing technique. In this approach, the oceanic environment and noise sources are represented by mathematical models and directly incorporated into the processor, thereby allowing their effects to be removed from the decision function prior to target detection. It is then shown that the weak target dominates the resulting decision function. The approach recognizes the variability of the ocean environment and allows the processor to adaptively adjust its inherent parameters and underlying statistics to the changing ocean environment.