On optimal threshold and structure in threshold system based detector

Threshold systems are widely used in nonlinear signal detection. The optimal threshold and the optimal structure are crucial to obtain good performance. In this paper, we propose an efficient method to estimate optimal threshold in a threshold system based detector (TD). In addition, we investigate the structural issue of TD and propose a technique to determine the optimal structure. An optimal threshold detector is then implemented based on the optimal structure with the optimal threshold(s). Experiments show that the proposed optimal TD can be fairly compared to the optimal detection with much easier implementation and much less computational complexity.

► We propose a novel indicator to measure detection performance for a threshold system based detector (TD).
► We calculate the optimal threshold using an efficient method based on the proposed indicator.
► We propose a technique to determine the optimal structure.
► The proposed TD is effective and robust with much easier implementation and much less computational complexity.