Performance comparison of a linear parametric noise estimation Wiener filter and non-linear joint transform correlator for realistic clutter backgrounds

It has been shown previously that a linear Wiener filter is capable of dete cting a target in severe clutter backgrounds by utilising a parametric mode l of the clutter power spectrum in its filter transfer function. In this pa per the performance of the linear Wiener filter is compared to that impleme nted in a non-linear joint transform correlator in which the entire current input scene is used as an approximation for the clutter background. Realis tic clutter backgrounds are employed in the tests that cover a range of nat ural scenery likely to be encountered in practice. The linear Wiener filter , employing a parametric model of the averaged background scenes, is shown to outperform the non-linear filter in most cases. Brief consideration is a lso given to the relative merits of implementation of these two filters in both optical and digital correlators. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.