Performance evaluation of array processors for detecting Gaussian acoustic signals

The detection performance for "noise-like" underwater acoustic signals from a known direction is presented using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC). Analytical expressions for PFAand PDare derived in terms of the eigenvalues of the covariance matrices of the received data under both hypotheses. Applications of this method to linear arrays with equal or unequal spacing and planar arrays are shown. As an example, the optimal array performance for detecting Gaussian signals in both directional and independent Gaussian noise is evaluated and compared with that of a conventional beamformer envelope detector and a null steering processor.