Optimal Detector Synthesis for a Spaceborne High-Precision Oceanographic Radar Altimeter

An algorithm of optimal Neyman-Pearson detection for a high-precision spaceborne radar altimeter is synthesized, and its detection performance in the case of sea surface returns is evaluated. One result of the synthesis is that the new detector incorporates a filter with time-varying signal-to-noise-ratio-dependent parameters. A simplified (near-optimal) detector considered in this letter loses only 2 dB in the threshold signal with respect to that of the optimal Neyman-Pearson algorithm.