Multiple Antenna Array Signal Collecting and Processing

Abstract

This paper analyzes an optimal data collection and processing system for detecting a random signal field in a random noise field employing multiple antennas. The statistical model consists of a Gaussian random signal field and an independent Gaussian noise field. The time optimal data processing system to be analyzed is specified in terms of array deployment and signal/noise space time correlation structure. An exact expression for the characteristic function of the test statistic computed by the space-time signal processor is derived under the assumptions of stationarity and a long observation time. Analytical difficulties involved in evaluating and inverse transforming the characteristic function are considered through case studies. The test statistic is analytically shown to reduce to a Gaussian random variable in the threshold case for the array situation. The dependence of receiver performance on the space-time correlation structure of the signal and noise fields, the antenna deployment, and the optimal performance criteria (outage rate, predetection signal-to-noise ratio, etc.) is considered. Optimal antenna deployment is considered, for the threshold case, in terms of several physically realistic signal and noise field space-time correlation structure models.