Cramer-Rao lower bound for estimating quadrupole resonance signals in non-Gaussian noise

Quadrupole resonance (QR) technology for the detection of explosives is of crucial importance in an increasing number of applications. For landmine detection, where the detection system cannot be shielded, QR has proven to be highly effective if the QR sensor is not exposed to radio-frequency interference (RFI). However, strong non-Gaussian RFI in the field is unavoidable. A statistical model of such non-Gaussian RFI noise is given in this letter. In addition, the asymptotic Cramer-Rao lower bound for estimating a deterministic QR signal in this non-Gaussian noise is presented. The performance of several convenient estimators is compared to this bound.