A novel method to estimate the RFI environment

One of the greatest challenges in the evaluation of microwave radiometer RFI detection methods is a lack of suitable ground truth about the RFI environment; the false alarm rate can be readily estimated without it, but probability of detection cannot. A method is introduced to derive the probability distribution of RFI amplitude anywhere on the globe, thus characterizing the RFI environment. The method constructs low-level RFI characteristics which are difficult to detect from the highlevel RFI characteristics that are more easily detected. The conceptual and theoretical basis of the method is presented, followed by possible future augmentations and improvements.