Performance Prediction of Matched Filter and Adaptive Cosine Estimator Hyperspectral Target Detectors

Many applications of hyperspectral remote sensing involve the detection of subpixel targets for search and rescue or defense and intelligence operations. The design and potential capabilities of these systems depends on their target detection performance. Therefore, it is important to have tools that reliably predict the performance of target detection systems under different realistic situations. The purpose of this paper is to present a hyperspectral target performance prediction model for the widely used matched filter (MF) and adaptive cosine estimator (ACE) detectors. We use a replacement signal model for resolved and subpixel targets and a finite probability mixture of t-elliptically contoured distributions (t-ECDs) for the background. A major contribution of this paper is the development of a robust analytical and numerical approach to determine the output distribution of ACE for mixtures of t-ECDs. The proposed technique can be a very useful tool for evaluating target detection performance for highly complex backgrounds.