Approximating the Neyman-Pearson detector for swerling I targets with low complexity neural networks

Abstract

This paper deals with the application of neural networks to approximate the Neyman-Pearson detector. The detection of Swerling I targets in white gaussian noise is considered. For this case, the optimum detector and the optimum decision boundaries are calculated. Results prove that the optimum detector is independent on TSNR, so, under good training conditions, neural network performance should be independent of it. We have demonstrated that the minimum number of hidden units required for enclosing the optimum decision boundaries is three. This result allows to evaluate the influence of the training algorithm. Results demonstrate that the LM algorithm is capable of finding excellent solutions for MLPs with only 4 hidden units, while the BP algorithm best results are obtained with 32 or more hidden units, and are worse than those obtained with the LM algorithm and 4 hidden units. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.