Unified framework for the synthesis of synthetic discriminant functions with reduced noise variance and sharp correlation structure

An inherent implementational limitation of the recently developed minimum average correlation energy (MACE) filters arises from the circular correlation implicit in the discrete frequency domain approach followed. An alternative methodology that uses space domain computations to overcome these limitations is presented. An improved synthetic discriminant function (SDF) that satisfies the conflicting requirements of reduced noise variance and sharp correlation peaks to facilitate ease of detection is developed by employing a unified framework for design. A quantitative evaluation of the performance characteristics of the new filter is conducted and is shown to compare favorably with the well known minimum variance SDF and the space domain MACE filter, which are special cases of the present design.