An entropy-based receiver for the detection of random signals and its application to radar

Abstract An entropy-based receiver is derived for detecting correlated signals in additive white noise, both having unknown statistics. The basic idea behind the new approach is that under a constant energy constraint, the entropy of a received process having a finite number of sample points attains its maximum when the process is white and decreases as it becomes correlated. When no signal is present, the test statistic is asymptotically a monotone function of a chi-square variable, which can be employed to determine the desired threshold for a constant false-alarm rate. Results based on simulated data and actual radar data are presented.