The Uncertainty of Pulse Position Due to Noise

The time at which a received signal crosses a certain level fluctuates in the presence of noise. In this paper, a theoretical formula for the standard deviation of this thresholding time is obtained. The formula is applied to the detection of a pulse perturbed by Gaussian noise. Two practical detection schemes, the peak amplitude estimator and the double differentiator, are theoretically analyzed and compared. Also, a formula is derived which may be used to determine the efficacy of a false-alarm detection system.