Detection of ultrawideband radar pulses in atmospheric turbulence and Gaussian noise

Scintillation of electromagnetic energy traversing the atmosphere is caused by refractive index inhomogeneities in the transmission path that cause phase shifts, giving rise to constructive and destructive interference of the energy across the beam. It is the object of this paper to determine the detection probability and false alarm rate for ultrawideband pulses of electromagnetic energy of varying width in the presence of atmospheric turbulence and Gaussian noise. We find that atmospheric turbulence and Gaussian noise reduce the detection probability of short pulses, with detection probability degraded more for shorter pulses. We find also that detection probability is actually improved with stronger turbulence, a result of turbulent fluctuations exceeding the receiver threshold. Transmitting more power improves the detection probability for all cases, as expected.