Location of target in correlated background with the SIR processor

In this paper, we address the problem of the localization of a target with random grey levels appearing on a random background. The optimal processor for any white Gaussian statistics of the target's and the background's grey levels is the white Gaussian -statistically independent region processor. If the statistics of the grey levels of the input image are no white, it is shown that a whitening preprocessing can allow one to model with a a good approximation the statistics of the preprocessed image by three white Gaussian probability density functions, which characterize the target, the background and the boundary between the target and the background in the preprocessed image. The preprocessing can thus generalize the domain of application of the statistically independent region processors.