Detection and parameter estimation of a transient signal using order statistics

Detection and parameter estimation of a transient signal in noise is a prob lem of many applications. It is characterized by the fact that some of the measurements consist of noise only. Modern statistical signal processing te chniques are applied on a discrete version of the received data and are imp lemented by digital signal processing (DSP). In this correspondence, we sho w how order statistics (OS)-based signal processing, which is of a discrete nature, can he used for simultaneous detection and estimation of parameter s (such as Lime of arrival and signal duration) of a sampled transient sign al in white noise. We show that the resulting processors are more robust th an the conventional processors, whereas their performance is about the same , at the cost of increased computational complexity.