Probability Densities and Characteristic Functions for Fluctuating Targets

Probability density functions and characteristic functions for the projected area of a tumbling target object are derived together with the densities and characteristic functions for the corresponding signal-plus-noise voltage output of an infrared sensor. Several cases are considered in which the signal pulse arrival time is either known or unknown, a matched filter or a suboptimum filter is used; the signal pulse shape is either Gaussian or is unspecified; and the target orientation angles are either uniformly or nonuniformly distributed.