CAUSALITY AND CONSERVATION OF ENERGY - THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR PREDICTION OF RECEIVER PERFORMANCE

The paper is concerned with the analysis ot receiver performance in ra nge-dependent waveguides. The problem is shown to be amenable to a sim ple theoretical treatment. The necessary analytical technique is based on the application of the principle of causality and the law of conse rvation of energy. The focus of the analysis is on prediction of limit ing capabilities of an optimum detector of quasi-deterministic signals in irregular multi-mode channels. Explicit analytical formulae are de rived for the probability of detection. the far-field directivity func tion and the Cramer-Rao bound for mean-root-square errors in estimates of signal parameters. The theory presented reveals clear physical lim its on capabilities of signal processing technique in non-uniform ocea nic environment.