Validity of whitening-matched filter approximation to the pareto coherent detector

It has been observed that the coherent multilook detector for targets embedded within Pareto intensity clutter can be approximated by the Gaussian optimal detector, or whitening-matched filter, in a number of real data sets. These correspond to clutter returns obtained from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation´s Ingara radar, operating in X-band, at high grazing angles and in a circular spotlight mode. This study will establish conditions under which this can be explained mathematically. The key to this is to apply Stein´s method from probability theory to establish rules of thumb to determine the validity of the approximation.