Detection of weak signals based on a new class of transformations of random series

For detecting weak signals (when their amplitude is comparable with the amp litude of the noise track a new class of transformations of random series t o a straight line has been suggested. It has been shown that these transfor mations are quasi-linear and can be defined as a signal-to-staircase transf ormation (SST). The height of a step defines an amplitude of the detected s ignal and the step length its duration. The SST can be applicable for a wid e class of random series having different statistical nature. The verificat ion of this new method based on the analysis of the real signal/noise track s containing registration of different earthquakes with small amplitudes ha s been realized. It has also been shown that different situations which hav e been found from the real-data analysis demonstrate the high sensitivity a nd efficiency of the new method suggested. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.