Optimization of Signal-to-Noise Ratio in Linear Systems

Abstract

Useful, deterministic signals passing through various transmission devices often acquire extraneous random components due to, say, thermal noise in conducting materials, radio clutter or aurora borealis magnetic field fluctuations in the atmosphere, or deliberate jamming in warfare. If there exists some prior information about the nature of the original useful signal and the contaminating random noise, it is possible to devise algorithms to improve the relative power of the useful component of the signal, or, in other words, to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal, by passing it through a filter designed for the purpose. In this short chapter we give a few examples of such designs just to show how the previously introduced techniques of analysis of random signals can be applied in this context.