A simple Pearson distribution based detector with applications to time-hopping multiuser UWB receiver design

Application of a powerful statistical tool, the Pearson distribution family, to signal detection problems is investigated in communications literature for the first time. In order to design high performance detectors, we use a method of moments which relies on the Pearson distribution system to estimate probability density function (PDF) of the additive noise or interference. Using the Pearson PDF as approximation to the true PDF of the noise/interference, we present a novel and simple detector structure which can be used in a variety of detection problems. The TH-UWB receiver design is studied as an example and demonstration of the proposed detection approach. It is shown that the Pearson distribution based detector achieves high performance in a wide range of noise/interference conditions for TH-UWB systems, which suffer from non-Gaussian, impulse-like multiple access interference.