CFAR detection of a known FSK-modulated signal in white Gaussian noise with unknown variance

Optimal detection of a known FSK-modulated binary signal in additive white Gaussian noise using a matched filter receiver requires knowledge of second-order noise statistics. The dependence on noise statistics causes the probability of detection to be sensitive to errors in the noise variance value. This makes the optimal scheme of limited use in situations where the noise statistics are unknown and cannot be estimated reliably. We propose an alternative approach, which has a more easily calculated test statistic than the optimal method and yields a constant false detection rate, regardless of noise statistics. While this approach has sub-optimal detection probability, it is significantly advantageous in applications where a primary interest is to limit false detections strictly. In addition, it allows one to determine easily the required detection length (in symbols) to achieve a desired performance level.