On the use of a general amplitude PDF in coherent detectors of signals in spherically invariant interference

The aspects of using a general amplitude probability density function in coherent detectors are investigated. For this purpose, the generalised Bessel function K (GBK) distribution is used. The performance of the optimal detector of signals embedded in GBK-distributed interference is compared to the one of the uniformly most powerful invariant detectors using extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The results indicate that for a small number of integrated pulses the optimal detector outperforms the uniformly most powerful invariant detector by up to 18 dB. It is shown, that this improvement does not vary significantly with changes in the parameters that control the spherical invariance of the GBK distribution