Optimum Detection of M-ary Orthogonal Signals in ELF Noise Environments

Explicit receiver structures for the optimum detection of M-ary orthogonal signals in impulsive noise environments typical of ELF are determined. The resulting optimum structures, while shown to bear some resemblance to that which would have been obtained in the presence of Gaussian noise alone, exhibit an interesting nonlinear behavior. The difficulties in the actual implementation of this receiver are discussed, and several definitely suboptimum yet computationally superior structures are suggested. The results are felt to be applicable to a much broader class of channels characterized by impulsive interference. Accepted for the Air Force Joseph R. Waterman, Lt. Col., USAF Chief, Lincoln Laboratory Project Office