Adaptive detection of distributed targets in partially homogeneous environment with Rao and Wald tests

This paper deals with the problem of detecting distributed targets in the presence of partially homogeneous Gaussian disturbance with unknown covariance matrix. Since no uniformly most powerful test exists for the problem at hand, we devise and assess two detection strategies based on the Rao test, and the Wald test respectively. Remarkably both tests ensure the constant false alarm rate (CFAR) property with respect to both the structure of the covariance matrix as well as the power level. A preliminary performance assessment, conducted by resorting to simulated data, also in comparison to previously proposed detectors, has confirmed the effectiveness of the newly proposed detection algorithms. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.