A suboptimum detector structure is developed for the detection of weak signals in non-Gaussian noise. In contrast to locally optimum detectors, the suboptimum detector structure is relatively easy to implement and is shown to perform well for a wide range of underlying noise distributions. The robustness of simple limiter detectors is discussed. The extension of the concept of a suboptimum detector to an adaptive detector for operating in an unknown noise environment is also discussed.

A locally optimum detector structure is derived for the detection of weak signals in non-Gaussian environments. Optimum performance is obtained by employing a zero-memory nonlinearity prior to the matched filter that would be optimum for detecting the signal were the noise Gaussian. The asymptotic detection performance of the locally optimum detector under non-Gaussian conditions is derived and compared with that for the corresponding detector optimized for operations in Gaussian noise. Numerical results for the asymptotic detection performance are shown for signal detection in noise environments of practical interest.