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I. INTRODUCTION

Performance of CA-CFAR
Detectors in Nonhomogeneous
Positive Alpha-Stable Clutter

VALENTINE A. AALO, Senior Member, IEEE

Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, FL, USA
KOSTAS P. PEPPAS, Senior Member, IEEE
University of Peloponnese
Tripoli, Greece
GEORGE EFTHYMOGLOU, Member, IEEE
University of Piraeus
Piraeus, Greece

This paper studies the performance of a cell-averaging constant

false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) receiver that operates in a
nonhomogeneous clutter environment with impulsive, heavy-tailed
statistics. The clutter distribution is modeled by a positive
alpha-stable distribution, which is described by the characteristic
exponent , where 0 < < 1. Analytical expressions for the false
alarm and detection probabilities are derived for arbitrary values of
assuming a nonhomogeneous clutter background. The analytical
results are validated with computer simulation.

Manuscript received January 16, 2014; revised December 1, 2014;

released for publication March 29, 2015.
DOI. No. 10.1109/TAES.2015.140043.
Refereeing of this contribution was handled by G. San Antonio.

Authors addresses: V. A. Aalo, Department of Computer & Electrical

Engineering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca
Raton, FL 33431; K. P. Peppas, Department of Telecommunication
Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese, Tripoli 22100,
Greece. E-mail: (peppas@uop.gr). G. Efthymoglou, Department of
Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, 80 Karaoli & Dimitriou Street,
Piraeus 18534, Greece.
C 2015 IEEE
0018-9251/15/$26.00 

The received signal in a radar target detection scheme

includes reflections from a target (when one is present),
reflections from objects in the surroundings, and thermal
noise. The undesirable radar reflections from surrounding
objects such as sea, foliage, clouds, etc., are referred to as
clutter. Cell-averaging constant false alarm rate
(CA-CFAR) receivers are frequently used in radar target
detection when the clutter background is homogeneous. In
this case the in-phase and quadrature-phase components of
the radar returns are jointly independent and identically
distributed (IID) Gaussian random variables due to the
central limit theorem so that the output of the envelope
detector used to process the returns has Rayleigh statistics
[1]. In many practical scenarios, the radar returns may be
dominated by spikes of clutter from ocean waves and
glints due to reflections from large flat surfaces such as
buildings and foliage. Transitions in the clutter statistics
and the presence of interfering target echoes may cause
the clutter statistics of the reference cells to be
nonhomogeneous [2]. The presence of impulsive clutter
increases the false alarm rate and cannot be reduced by
varying the detection threshold, thereby obscuring the
ability of the radar to detect the desired target, especially
when the clutter background is not homogeneous [3].
In many environments the radar return is the sum of a
large number of independent reflections from the target
background that follows the Gaussian distribution due to
the central limit theorem. However, the central limit
theorem does not explain the impulsive, non-Gaussian
nature of the measured data observed from some radar
target backgrounds such as turbulent sea and foliage clutter
[46]. In general, an appropriate statistical distribution to
model non-Gaussian clutter should provide an accurate
model to the clutter amplitude statistics in a single pulse as
well as the correlation between multiple pulses [7].
One class of distributions that satisfies the above
conditions and is based on physical reasoning about
typical clutter is the class of spherically invariant random
processes (SIRP) [5, 7, 8]. The SIRP random process
assumes that a positive random variable is used to
modulate a complex Gaussian process and leads to
tractable system performance analysis. Unfortunately,
SIRPs are nonperiodic processes and do not adequately
model clutter well in many environments [7].
Another family of distributions that has been proposed
and extensively used to model impulsive non-Gaussian
clutter is the class of alpha-stable distributions [916]. The
statistical behavior of an alpha-stable process is usually
characterized in terms of its parameters, one of which is
the characteristic exponent . This parameter acts as an
index of stability and describes the heavy-tail nature of the
probability density function (pdf) that governs the
alpha-stable random variable [12]. For a given value of
(0 < 2), the smaller the value of , the more impulsive
the pdf. The special case when = 1/2 corresponds to the
Pearson V distribution, = 1 to the Cauchy distribution,

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and = 2 to the Gaussian distribution. For all other values

of , the pdf can usually only be expressed as convergent
infinite series [9,17] since closed-form expressions do not
exist for the alpha-stable pdf; however, these series are not
convenient for system performance analysis. Numerical
inversion of the characteristic function is often necessary
to undertake system performance study for the
alpha-stable pdf in many cases of practical interest [18].
For positive-sided stable distributions (0 < < 1), the
Pearson distribution is the only case for which the
distribution appears in closed form.
1) Related Work: The performance of CFAR
receivers has so far been limited to the Pearson-distributed
clutter and considerable attention has been given to it in
the literature [1316]. For example, [13] presents an
analytical study on the performance of three existing
classes of constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detectors
operating in heavy-tailed distributed data. In particular, the
performance of the cell averaging (CA), order statistics
(OS), and p-percent truncated mean (PTM) CFAR
processors was assessed. In [14], a performance analysis
of the greatest of constant false alarm rate (GO-CFAR)
detector and the smallest-of constant false alarm rate
(SO-CFAR) detector is presented, assuming a
homogeneous and Pearson-distributed clutter. In [15], the
performance of decentralized CA-CFAR, GO-CFAR, and
SO-CFAR detectors in a heavy-tailed homogeneous
Pearson-distributed clutter was assessed by employing
fuzzy fusion rules. In [16], the performance of
decentralized CFAR detectors in homogeneous
Pearson-distributed clutter and in the presence of
interfering targets was assessed. In a recent work [19], the
pdf of a positive alpha-stable random variable has been
derived for an arbitrary value of in terms of the Foxs
H-function, while based on this pdf, the performance of
CA-CFAR receivers in a homogeneous clutter
environment was assessed.
2) Contributions: In this paper, the pdf of the
positive alpha-stable random variable derived in [19] is
employed to investigate the effect of nonhomogeneous
clutter, represented by the presence of a clutter edge in the
reference window, on the performance analysis of a
CA-CFAR receiver in the presence of positive alpha-stable
clutter, where the characteristic exponent can be chosen
arbitrarily in the range 0 < < 1. In particular, it is
assumed that a fraction of the reference window is
occupied by high-intensity clutter and the remainder of the
windows occupied by low-intensity clutter. This model for
clutter nonhomogeneity is based on using a step
discontinuity in the intensity of the clutter to indicate the
location of a clutter edge in the reference window and has
been adopted for clutter edge detection in an environment
with Rayleigh-distributed clutter [20] as well as with
Pearson-distributed clutter [14]. In the remainder of this
paper the effect of the fraction of the reference window
occupied by high-intensity clutter on the probability of
false alarm and the probability of detection performances
2

of the radar receiver is considered. The main contributions

of this paper are summarized as follows.
1) Using the theory of the Foxs H-functions and
Mellin-Barnes integrals, novel closed-form expressions
for the false alarm and detection probabilities of a
CA-CFAR detector in a nonhomogeneous clutter
background are derived, assuming arbitrary values of .
2) Assuming rational values of , a novel closed-form
expression for the false alarm probability is derived in
terms of the Meijers G-function.
3) A generic frequency-domain approach is developed for
the evaluation of the probability of detection, in which
the corresponding integral is transformed into the
frequency domain, using Parsevals theorem. Such a
transformation only requires the knowledge of the
characteristic functions of the random variables
involved in the computation of the probability of
detection, which are readily available. The proposed
method also circumvents the need to perform inverse
Laplace transformations, usually encountered in the
calculation of the probability of detection and is valid
for an arbitrary distributed clutter.
The proposed analysis is tested and verified by
numerically evaluated results accompanied with
Monte-Carlo simulations.
3) Structure: The remainder of this paper is
structured as follows. Section II outlines the system
model. In Section III analytical expressions for the
probability of false alarm and the probability of detection
are presented. In Section IV the various performance
results and their interpretations are presented. Finally,
concluding remarks are presented in Section V.
4)
Mathematical Notations: Throughout this paper,
= 1, E{} denotes the expectation operator and Pr()
denotes probability. The pdf of a random variable X is
denoted as fX (), its cumulative distribution function (cdf)
as FX (), its moments generating function (MGF) as
MX () and its characteristic function (CHF) as X (). In
terms of mathematical functions used in this paper, sgn()
is the signum of a real number, () and Im{} are the real
and imaginary parts of a complex number, respectively, z
denotes the conjugate of the complex number
z, F {g(t); t; } denotes the Fourier transform of the
function g(t), erf() is the error function [21, eq. (8.250/1)],
() is the Gamma function [21, eq. (8.310/1)], u() is the
unit step function, () is the Diracs delta function,
Gm,n
p,q [] is the Meijers G-function [22 eq. (8.2.1)], and
m,n
Hp,q
[] is the Foxs H-function [22, eq. (8.3.1)].
II. NONHOMOGENEOUS ALPHA-STABLE CLUTTER
MODELING
A. Problem Formulation

Fig. 1(a) shows a simple illustration of the CFAR

problem to decide whether there is a target present in the
test cell or not. The reference cells are outputs of
square-law devices that process the in-phase and
quadrature components of the data in range-by-range

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Fig. 1. Illustration of reference cells in CFAR detection scheme.

resolution cells that are sent serially into a shift register of

length N + 1 = 2M + 1. For convenience, it is assumed
that the cells are equally split on either side of the test cell.
The leading M samples and lagging M samples are
processed to form the statistic Z with which to adaptively
scale a threshold T to achieve the desired false alarm rate.
The test cell X0 is then compared with the adaptive
threshold to make a decision about the presence (H1 ) or the
absence (H0 ) of a target in the cell under test. The test is
H1

X0 >
< ZT

(1)

H0

As shown in Fig. 1, the average power in the leading

and lagging M cells around
 the test cell is estimated by the
sample averages U = M1 M
i=1 Xi and
1 2M
V = M i=M+1 Xi , respectively. The choice of the
adaptive weight Z as a function of U and V specifies the
CFAR processor, several of which have been studied in the
literature. For a homogeneous clutter background, a false
alarm rate can be set by simply choosing Z to be the
average over all the reference cells (i.e., Z = U + V); this
is the so-called CA-CFAR processor. Other CFAR
processors such as Z = max(U, V), Z = min(U, V), as well
as other nonparametric schemes are sometimes adopted
for robust detection. In this paper, we study the
performance of a CA-CFAR processor in a heavy-tail
(alpha-stable) clutter environment and consider the
presence of a clutter edge in the reference window. A false
alarm occurs if the output of the test cell exceeds the
adaptive threshold when a target is not present. The
probability of a false alarm occurring is given by

PF = Pr (X0 > T Z|H0 ) =
Pr (X0 > T z) fZ (z) dz
0

= 1
Pr (X0 T z) fZ (z)dz

0  T z
(2)
= 1
fX0 (x|H0 ) dx fZ (z) dz
0

The corresponding probability of correct detection of a

target in the reference window is given by
PD = Pr (X0 > T Z|H1 )

 
fX0 (x|H1 ) dx fZ (z) dz
=
0
Tz

= 1
FX0 (T z|H1 ) fZ (z) dz
0

(3)

Next we consider the statistical distribution for the output

of the cell of interest in an impulsive non-Gaussian
-stable clutter environment.
B. Alpha-Stable Clutter Model

The sea or ground clutter observed in many advanced

radar systems with advanced resolution capability has
been known to exhibit impulsive, heavy-tailed
non-Gaussian statistics. A commonly used non-Gaussian
clutter model assumes that the complex envelope of the
return from a resolution cell is the product
of two

independent random processes c = An, where the

speckle component n is a rapidly fluctuating complex
stationary Gaussian process with unit power, i.e.
E{|n|2 } = 1 and the comparatively slow varying texture
component A is a nonnegative real random process that
characterizes the fluctuations in the mean clutter power
[2325]. Commonly used distributions to model the
texture component of high-resolution non-Gaussian clutter
include the gamma, Weibull, log-normal, generalized
gamma, etc. [26]. Recently, the symmetric alpha-stable
distribution has been used to model impulsive
interference, including foliage and sea-clutter of synthetic
aperture radar (SAR) [27]. Thus using the product
property of alpha-stale processes [28, 29], it is assumed
that the clutter (plus noise) follows a symmetric
alpha-stable distribution, namely:
c = cI + cQ =



A nI + nQ

(4)

where the clutter quadratures cI , cQ are symmetric

alpha-stable random variables and nI , nQ are independent
Gaussian random variables, having unit variance.
Consequently, the texture component A may be a modeled
as a positively skewed alpha-stable random variable [28].
The hypothesis testing problem for detecting a fluctuating
target in a clutter background may be stated as

Y =

c, underH0
rS + c, underH1

(5)

In (5), S = sI + sQ is the complex envelope of the target

with sI , sQ being independent Gaussian variables, each
with unit variance, and r is the (unknown) parameter,
which is assumed to be a Nakagami-m random variable

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with pdf given as [30]

2mm r 2m1
mr 2
exp
fr (r) =
 (m) m


(6)

where m is the distribution shaping parameter and


 = E{r 2 } = 2s2 . It is assumed that the complex signal S
and clutter c are completely uncorrelated and the output of
the square-law device in each resolution cell is given by X
= |Y|2 .
In a homogeneous clutter background, it is assumed
that the clutter dominates the entire reference window.
Thus all the N reference ranges X1 , X2 , . . . XN are
statistically IID. When the Xi s follow a positive-sided
stable distribution with characteristic exponent and
dispersion parameter , it can be shown that the MGF of
Xi is given by [12, 31]
MXi (t) = MA (t) = exp ( t ) , 0 < < 1

(7)

The corresponding positive-sided alpha-stable pdf,

obtained from the inverse-Laplace transformation of (7),
can be shown to be given by [19]




1 0,1
1  (1, 1)
fXi (x) = x H1,1 x 
,
(8)
(1, )
for 0 < < 1 and i = 1, 2, . . ., N. Note that for the special
case when = 1/2, it is shown in Appendix B that (8)
reduces to the Pearson V pdf given by [14, Eq. (2)] as

2
fXi (x) = 3/2 exp
,x>0
(9)
4x
2 x
Since each Xi is a one-sided alpha-stable random variable
with characteristic exponent and dispersion
parameter

, then the sample average Z = N1 N
X
is
also a
i
i=1
positive-sided alpha-stable random variable with
characteristic exponent and dispersion parameter
N 1 [12]. It follows that the pdf of Z is given by




1 0,1
1 1  (1, 1)
,
(10)
fZ (z) = z H1,1 N z 
(1, )
In this paper a simple nonhomogeneous clutter model
is considered that is frequently used to model
heterogeneities due to a clutter edge in the reference
window. As illustrated in Fig. 1(b), this model assumes a
step discontinuity in the clutter intensity [14, 20]. The
reference cells are assumed to consist of two groups, each
group having a different dispersion parameter. The
reference cells within each group are positive-stable
variables with identical dispersion parameter. The first
group which consists of R cells is occupied by
high-intensity clutter, denoted Xi (for i = 1, 2, . . ., R),
with dispersion parameter +  . Therefore, the pdf of
the high-intensity clutter is given by



 (1, 1)
0,1
fXi (x) = x 1 H1,1
,
[ (1 + C)]1 x 
(1, )
for i = 1, . . . , R
(11)
4

In (11), the constant C (where C =  / ) is the ratio of

the dispersion parameters. The second group of reference
cells consists of the remaining N R cells (for i = R + 1,
2, . . ., 2M) has low-intensity clutter with dispersion
parameter . The low-intensity clutter reference cells are
distributed as




1 0,1
1  (1, 1)
fXi (x) = x H1,1 x 
,
(1, )
for i = R + 1, 2, . . . , N
(12)
Note that R indicates the position of the step transition that
represents the clutter edge, with R = 0 implying that there
is no clutter edge in the reference window, while R > M
implies that the test cell is in the high-intensity clutter
region. Therefore, in a nonhomogeneous clutter
environment,
test statistic
 the CA-CFAR

Z = N1 ( Ri=1 X i + NR
X
i ) is a positive-sided
i=1
alpha-stable random variable with dispersion parameter
(N+RC)
with corresponding pdf given by [12, 14]
N




1

RC
(1,
1)
0,1
1 z 
fZ (z) = z1 H1,1 N 1 1 +
(1, )
N
(13)
Note that (13) reduces to (10) when R = 0. The MGF of Z
for in (7) to give
is obtained by substituting (N+RC)
N



RC
1

t
MZ (t) = exp N
1+
N


= exp N 1 (1 + C ) t
(14)
where = R/N is the fraction of the reference cells that is
occupied by the high-intensity clutter.
III. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

In this section the probabilities of false alarm and

detection given in (2) and (3), respectively, are evaluated,
using the pdf of Z given in (10) and the MGF of Z given in
(14). The following result holds:
PROPOSITION 1. The probability of false alarm can be
expressed in closed form as

 1


N
1 1,1
 (1, 1), (1, )
T 
PF = 1 H2,2
(15)
(0, 1), (1, )
1 + C
PROOF. If no target is present in the test cell then




1 0,1
1  (1, 1)
fX0 (x|H0 ) = x H1,1 x 
1,

(16)

The inner integral in (2) can therefore be written as




 Tz
 (1, 1)
0,1
dx
I=
x 1 H1,1
1 x 
(1, )
0






x
1 0,1
1  (1, 1)
=
u 1
x H1,1 x 
dx (17)
(1, )
Tz
0
By employing the relation between the Foxs
H-function and the Meijers G-function (see Appendix A)
as well as [22, Eq. (8.4.2.1)], the unit step function in (17)

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can be expressed interms of the

 H-function as


(1,
1)
1,0
. Employing the
u 1 Txz = H1,1 Txz |
(0, 1)
well-known result stating that the Mellin transform of the
product of two Foxs H-functions is also a Foxs
H-function [22, Eq. 2.25.1.1], I can be expressed in
closed form as




0,2
1
 (1, 1), (1, )
I = H2,2 (T z) 
(18)
(0, ), (1, )

The result in (18) can be reduced further if the H-function

is expressed as a Mellin-Barnes contour integral and
simplifying the resulting product of gamma functions.
Using the definition of the H-function given in (43) and
after some straightforward manipulations, I can be
simplified as follows

s
1
 (s)  1
I=
(T z) ds
2 L  (1 s)



 (1, 1)
0,1
(19)
= H1,1
1 (T z) 
(0, )
Consequently, (2) can be written as





1 0,1
1
 (1, 1)
PF = 1
z H1,1 (T z) 
(0, )
0



 (1, 1)
0,1
H1,1
dz (20)
N 1 (1 + C )1 1 z 
(1, )
Employing [22, Eq. 2.25.1.1], PF can be expressed as (15)
and this concludes the proof.
It is noted that the test is a CFAR since the final result
in (15) is independent of the dispersion parameter .
As far as the computational implementation of the
Foxs H-function is concerned, it is noted that the Foxs
H-function is still not available in standard mathematical
software packages such as Mathematica and Maple.
Nevertheless, in two recent works, numerically efficient
methods to evaluate this function have been developed
using Matlab [32, Table 2] and Mathematica [33
Appendix A]. Both methods are based on the definition of
the Foxs H-function, given by (43). When rational values
of are considered it can be shown that PF can be
expressed in terms of the Meijers G-function, which is a
standard built-in function available in the most popular
mathematical software packages such as Maple,
Mathematica, and Matlab. Specifically, the following
result holds.
PROPOSITION 2. When = p/q with p < q, the probability
of false alarm can be expressed in closed form as
q
q,q1
PF = 1 (2 )pq Gp+q1,p+q1
p




N pq
p  q , p , 1

T
 0, q , p
(1 + C )q

(21)

}.
where k = { k1 , k2 , . . . , k1
k
Proof Employing (43) and assuming = p/q, the
Mellin-Barnes contour integral representation of (15) is as

follows:
PF = 1

q 1
p 2


L

 (s)  (s)
 

 1 + pq s  pq s
s

N q 1 pq
T

1 + C

ds

(22)

By performing the change of variables s = qu and after

some straightforward manipulations (22) is written as

q2 1
 (qu)  (qu)
PF = 1
p 2 L  (1 + pu)  (pu)
u

N pq
p
T
du
(23)

(1 + C )q
By employing the Gauss multiplication formula for the
gamma function [21, eq. 8.335],

n1

k
1
(1n) (nx 12 )
2
n
 x+
,
(24)
 (nx) = (2 )
n
k=0
(23) can be expressed as
(2)pq q
p2




 q1  u + k q1  1 qk u
k=0
k=0
q
q






p1
p1
pk
k+1
L
+u
k=0 
k=0  1 p u
p
u

N pq
p
T
du
(25)

(1 + C )q

PF = 1

The contour integral in (25) is recognized as the definition

of the G-function in (21) and this completes the proof.
In the special case of = 1/2, i.e., when a
Pearson-distributed clutter is considered, it can be shown
that PF can be expressed in terms of elementary functions
only. The following result holds:
PROPOSITION 3. The probability of false alarm in the
presence of a nonhomogeneous Pearson clutter can be
expressed in closed form as
PF = 1




2
arctan (1 + C ) NT

(26)

PROOF. Setting p = 1, q = 2 to (21) yields

1 

 ,1
1 2,1
1
2 1
(27)
PF = 1 G2,2

(1 + C )2 NT  0, 2
 1 
 
,1
1
1 2,1

Using the identity arctan x = 2 G2,2 x|| 2 1 [22,

0, 2
Eq. (8.4.7.4)], (26) is readily obtained and this concludes
the proof.
The probability of detection for the system under
consideration can by evaluated using (3). When the target
is present (H1 is true), the cell under test X0 is the sum of
two independent random variables, namely X0 = A + r2
and, therefore, the MGF of X0 can be deduced as

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MX0 (t) = MA (t)Mr 2 (t). Consequently, the term

FX0 (T z|H1 ) in (3) can be evaluated by employing inverse
Laplace transformation. However, the derivation of this
transformation in terms of tabulated functions is a very

PD =

2
1
+
2
 2 


 

 

   sin T p sin 2 z2 + m arctan zTm

z2
exp
+ p cos
dz
 m2

4
T
2
2
0
z 1 + zT2 m2

tedious and complicated task. Concerning this

well-recognized but cumbersome statistical problem, it is
more insightful to transform the integral yielding the
probability of detection in the frequency domain, since the
characteristic functions of A, r2 , and Z are readily available
in closed form. Specifically, the following result holds:
PROPOSITION 4. The probability of detection can be
expressed as
1
1
PD = +
2


0


1
Im
X ()Z (T ) d. (28)
0

PROOF. By employing the Parsevals theorem [34], the

product integral in (3) can be written as

1
F {fZ (z) ; z; }
PD = 1
2


F FX0 (T z|H1 ); z; d.
(29)
To this end, the Fourier transforms F {fZ (z); z; } and
F {FX0 (T z|H1 ); z; } should be deduced. The first Fourier
transform, can be readily obtained as
F {fZ (z) ; z; } = Z () .

(30)

By employing the following Fourier transforms [34]:


 x
F
g ( ) d ; x;

= F {g(x); x; } + F {g (x) ; x; 0} ()

F {g (T x) ; x; } =


1 
F g (x) ; x;
|T |
T

(31a)

(31b)

one obtains
 


+ () .
(32)
F FX0 (T z|H1 ) = X0

T
By substituting (30) and (32) into (29) and employing the
fundamental
property of the Diracs delta function, i.e.

(t

t
)g(t)dt
= g(t0 ), one obtains
0


 
1
1

(33)
Z () d
X0
PD =
2 2
T

(34)

It is noted that proposition 4 holds for arbitrary

distributed clutter and arbitrary distributed target envelope
r. For the special case of alpha-stable distributed clutter
and Nakagami-m distributed target envelope the following
result holds:
PROPOSITION 5. Under the assumption of a Nakagami-m
fluctuating target and alpha-stable distributed clutter, an
integral representation for the probability of detection is
deduced as in (34) where
p=N

(1 + C ) .

(35)

PROOF. Assuming an alpha-stable distributed clutter,

Z () can be readily obtained from (14) as


Z () = exp N 1 (1 + C ) ()
(36)
Moreover, if r follows a Nakagami-m distribution, r2
follows a gamma distribution; therefore, X0 () can be
deduced as

 m
X0 () = r 2 () A () = 1 +
m



exp () .
(37)
The following useful identities are employed:
 
= exp ( ln ) = exp
2

Performing the change of variables = uT and

realizing that the imaginary part of PD is zero (since the
probability of detection is real), (28) is readily deduced
and this concludes the proof.

(38a)





 m
= exp m ln 1 +
mT
mT
m



2 2
2


exp m arctan
= 1+ 2 2
mT
mT
(38b)

1+

Then, by substituting (36), (37), into (38) and after

performing the change of variables = z2/ in order to
guarantee the convergence of the resulting integral for all
values of , (34) is obtained and this concludes the proof.
Note that the integral in (34) can be evaluated
numerically in an efficient manner by using either
standard built-in functions for numerical integration,
available in popular mathematical software packages such

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as Matlab, Mathematica, or Maple, or by employing

Gaussian quadrature techniques. In the following, the
special case of a Rayleigh fluctuating target present in the
cell under test is considered, i.e., the fading parameter m
equals to one. Under the assumption of sufficiently high
target signal-to-clutter ratio, the presence in this cell of the
additive alpha-stable clutter can be ignored. In this case,
the output of the square-law detector has an exponential
distribution with pdf given by
 x
1
fX0 (x|H1 ) = exp
(39)


where  = 2s2 . The cdf of X0 is given by

x
FX0 (x|H1 ) = 1 exp 2
2s

(40)

Substituting (40) in (3), the probability of detection is

given by [1]


Tz
T
(z)
dz
=
PD =
exp
M
f
(41)
Z
Z
2s 2
2s 2
0

Fig. 2. PF as function of C for N = 16, T = 1, and various values of

and R.

Finally, the probability of detection is obtained from (41)

and (14) as


T
1

(1 + C ) 
(42)
PD = exp N
2s2
When = 0, it can be shown that (26) and (42) are
numerically equivalent to those in [13]. A proof can be
found in Appendix C. It is noted that the parameter
indicates the location of a clutter edge during a clutter
transition. Therefore, can be used as a measure of
heterogeneity of the clutter background, with = 0
corresponding to a homogeneous clutter background for
which the CA-CFAR is expected to be optimum.
IV. NUMERICAL RESULTS

In this section, various performance results obtained

using the PF and PD expressions presented in Section III
are presented. In particular, the following performance
evaluation results have been obtained:

Fig. 3. PF as function of R for = 0.75, N = 16, and various values of

C.

PF vs. C (obtained using (15) and (21) - see Fig. 2);

log PF vs. R (obtained using (15) and (21) - see
Fig. 3);
PD vs.  (obtained using (34) - see Fig. 4, and (42) see Fig. 5);
receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (PD
vs. PF ) (obtained using (15), (21), with (34) - see
Fig. 6).

To validate the accuracy of the previously mentioned

expressions, comparisons with complementary Monte
Carlo simulated performance results are also included in
Figs. 2, 4, 5, and 6. To this end, 106 random samples
obtained from the one-sided alpha-stable distribution were
generated. Based on [35] and [36], a mathematical
software package for the generation of random samples
from the generic Levy alpha-stable distribution is

Fig. 4. PD as function of  assuming Nakagami-m fluctuating target,

for PF = 104 , N = 16, R = 8, = 0.8, = 1, C = {5dB, 15dB}, and
various values of m.

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Fig. 5. PD as function of  assuming Rayleigh fluctuating target (m =

1), for T = 1, N = 16, R = 8, = 1, C = 10 dB, and various values of .

Fig. 6. ROC curves (PD vs PF ) for N = 16, R = 8, C = 10 dB,  = 70

dB, m = 2.5, and various values of .

available online in [37]. The generic Levy alpha-stable

distribution S(, , c, ) implemented in [37], is a
four-parameter family of distributions with characteristic
function given in D-1. The parameter (0, 2] is the
characteristic exponent, [1, 1] is the skewness, c >
0 is the scale, and (, ) is the location. In the
problem under consideration, however, random samples
from the one-sided alpha-stable distribution should be
generated; hence the parameters of S(, , c, ) should be
selected in an appropriate manner in order to yield the
one-sided alpha-stable distribution. The selection of the
distribution parameters is described in Appendix D.
Fig. 2 depicts the false alarm performance versus the
clutter edges power transmission C, when R = 4 and R =
8 clutter cells are present in the reference window,
assuming detection threshold T = 1 and = {0.1, 0.5,
0.8}. As it can be observed, PF decreases as or R
decreases. Moreover, the PF curves coincide with square
pattern signs obtained via simulations, thus verifying the
correctness of the proposed mathematical analysis.
8

Fig. 3 depicts the false alarm performance versus R,

assuming C = 5 dB, 10 dB, 15 dB, and 20 dB, = 0.75,
and N = 16. The decision threshold T is selected in a
suitable manner to achieve a constant probability of false
alarm under the hypothesis that the reference window is in
homogeneous clutter background. The design PF is
selected equal to 104 . Note that for a certain PF value,
(15) or (21) with = 0 is employed to obtain T. The
resulting transcendental equation, which involves
H-functions or G-functions, must be solved for T. To this
end, built-in routines available in most popular computing
software can be used in an efficient and straightforward
manner. Note that for a Pearson-distributed clutter, T can
be readily obtained in closed form by solving (26) with
respect to T. As can be observed, PF decreases as C or R
increases.
In Fig. 4 the probability of detection PD assuming
Nakagami-m fluctuating targets is plotted versus , for
probability of false alarm PF = 104 and various values of
m. It is assumed that = 0.8, R = 8, = 1, and C = 5 dB
and 10 dB. The number of the reference cells N is
assumed equal to 16. The decision threshold T is selected
to achieve a constant probability of false alarm, equal to
104 under the hypothesis that the reference window is in
homogeneous clutter background. As can be observed, PD
improves as  increases and m or C increases. Moreover,
our performance evaluation results show that the
theoretical PD curves are very close (practically
indistinguishable) to those obtained by means of computer
simulations.
In Fig. 5 the probability of detection PD assuming
Rayleigh fluctuating targets is plotted versus , for T = 1,
R = 8, N = 16, = 1, C = 10 dB, and various values of
. The exact results, obtained by employing (34) by
setting m = 1, are compared with approximate ones
obtained using (42). As it is expected, (42) serves as an
accurate approximation to (34) as  increases. For high
values of , it is evident that both (34) and (42) yield
almost identical results.
Finally, in Fig. 6 ROC curves are depicted assuming N
= 16, R = 8,  = 70 dB, C = 5 dB, = 1, and m = 2.5,
for various values of . As can be observed, the shape of
the ROC curves stays the same as decreases, but the
performance curves move to the right towards higher PF
values, as expected.
V. CONCLUSION

It is well known that an alpha-stable distribution can

model the impulsive heavy-tail sea and foliage clutter.
However, because the distribution of the alpha-stable
random variable is only available in series form,
performance analysis of CFAR receivers in an alpha-stable
clutter environment has so far been limited to the Pearson
V distribution for which the distribution is in closed form.
In this paper, closed-form expressions for the probability
of false alarm in an alpha-stable clutter environment are
derived. Moreover, a concise, frequency-domain approach

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for evaluating the probability of detection was presented.

The proposed approach allows for arbitrary distributed
clutters and target envelopes. The generality and
computational efficiency of these results render
themselves as efficient tools for both theoretical analysis
and practical applications. The derived results include as
special cases those of the Pearson V distributed clutter.
Moreover, it is shown that for sufficiently high values of
target signal-to-clutter ratio, the presence in this cell of the
additive alpha-stable clutter can be ignored. In that case
and assuming Rayleigh fluctuating targets, it is shown that
an accurate expression for the probability of detection can
be deduced in closed form. The proposed analysis is
supported by numerically evaluated results compared with
extensive Monte-Carlo simulations, which verified the
accuracy of the analytical expressions.

2
1
= 3/2
2 x 2

2
 (w)
4x
L

w
dw

(46)

The contour integral in (46) yields the exponential

function in (9) [22, Eq. (8.4.3.1)].
APPENDIX C. DERIVATION OF PF FOR A
HOMOGENEOUS PEARSON-DISTRIBUTED CLUTTER

From [13, Eq. (24)] one obtains

!


y
2N
Ny 2
dy. (47)
exp
erf
PF =
0
2
2T
From [21, Eq. (6.285/1)], the following result holds




 2 2
arctan A

erf (Ax) exp x dx =

2
A
0
(48)
Using
(48),
(47)
yields
APPENDIX A. DEFINITION OF THE FOXS


H-FUNCTION
2
NT
(49)
PF = 1 arctan
The Foxs H-function is defined as [22, Eq. (8.3.1.1)]

 


which agrees with (26) when = 0. From [13, Eq. (26)]
 (a , A ) , . . . , ap , Ap
m,n


Hp,q
x  1 1
one obtains
(b1 , B1 ) , . . . , bq , Bq


!



 n


Ny 2
2T
2N
 m
exp 2 2 exp
PD =
dy.
1
j =1  bj + Bj s
j =1  1 aj Aj s
0
2s y
2

q

 x s ds
=
p
2
j =n+1  aj +Aj s
j =m+1  1bj Bj s
(50)
L


(43) where = / 2. Employing [21, Eq. (3.471/9)] and [21,
Eq. (8.469/3)] and upon simplifying, (50) yields

where x = 0 and L is a suitable contour separating the

"

poles of (bj + Bj s) from the poles of (1 aj Aj s).

NT 2
(51)
PD = exp
s
An empty product is always interpreted as unity. For Aj =
Bj = 1, the Foxs H-function reduces to the more familiar
which agrees with (42) for = 1/2 and = 0.
Meijers G-function [22, eq. (8.2.1.1)].
APPENDIX D. DERIVATION OF THE ONE-SIDED
ALPHA-STABLE DISTRIBUTION FROM THE LEVY
APPENDIX B. DERIVATION OF (9)
ALPHA-STABLE DISTRIBUTION
When = 1/2, (8) becomes
The CHF of a Levy alpha-stable random variable X is




1 0,1
1 1/2   (1, 1) 
given
by [38]
fXi (x) = x H1,1 x 
1, 1 2


]+ if = 1



ec || [1 tan( 2 )sgn()


()

=
(52)
2
1 1,0
1/2  0, 1 2
X
c|| 1+ sgn() ln|| +
= x H1,1 x
(44)
 (0, 1)
if = 1
e
where [22, Eq. (8.3.2.7)] has been used to obtain the
second line in (44). Expressing (44) as a contour integral
yields

x 1
 (s)  1/2 s
  x
fXi (x) =
ds
2 L  2s

2x 1
 (2u)  2 1 u
=
du
(45)
x
2 L  (u)
Employing (24), (45) becomes

2
u


x 1 1

1
 u+
du
fXi (x) =
2
4x
2 L

1/2
2
w

x 1 2
1

=
 (w)
dw
2 L
4x
4x

The parameters , , c, and should be selected in a

suitable manner to yield the normalized one-sided
alpha-stable distribution, having MGF given by (7) when
= 1. Assuming = 1 and employing the inversion
theorem, the pdf of X is given by
fX (x)

1
X () exp (x) d
=
2



 

1
+
= 
exp c 1 tan

2
0

exp (x) d
(53)
From [39, Eq. (4.2.2)] and [39, Eq. (4.2.4)], it is deduced
that the pdf of this normalized one-sided alpha-stable

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distribution is given by
1
fX (x) = 



/2

exp e


exp (x) d

(54)
By equating the real and imaginary parts
of
(53)
and
(54),
#
it is readily deduced that = 1, c = cos( 2 ) and = 0.
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Valentine A. Aalo (S89M92SM05) was born in Nigeria on March 23, 1959. He

received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale, in 1984, 1986, and 1991, respectively, all in electrical engineering.
Since 1991, he has been with the faculty at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton,
where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Computer & Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science. He spent the summers of 1994 and 1995 with The
Satellite Communications and Networking Group at Rome Laboratory, Griffiss Air
Force Base, Rome, NY, as a Faculty Research Associate. His current research interests
include the areas of wireless communications, channel modeling, diversity techniques,
cooperative relay networks, wireless sensor networks, and radar signal processing.
Dr. Aalo is a member of Tau Beta Pi and several IEEE societies. From 2000 to 2011,
he served as Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications.

Kostas P. Peppas was born in Athens, Greece in 1975. He obtained his diploma in
electrical and computer engineering from the National Technical University of Athens
in 1997 and the Ph.D. degree in wireless communications from the same department in
2004.
From 2004 to 2007 he was with the University of Peloponnese, Department of
Computer Science, Tripoli, Greece and from 2008 to 2014 with the National Centre for
Scientific ResearchDemokritos, Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications as
a researcher. In 2014, he joined the Department of Telecommunication Science and
Technology, University of Peloponnese, where he is currently a lecturer. His current
research interests include digital communications over fading channels, MIMO systems,
wireless and personal communication networks, system level analysis, and design.
Dr. K. P. Peppas has authored more than 50 journal and conference papers.
AALO ET AL.: PERFORMANCE OF CA-CFAR DETECTORS IN NONHOMOGENEOUS POSITIVE ALPHA-STABLE CLUTTER

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George P. Efthymoglou (S94M98) was born in Athens, Greece, on April 22, 1968.
He received the B.S. degree in physics from the University of Athens in 1991 and the
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Florida Atlantic University, Boca
Raton, in 1993 and 1997, respectively.
From 1997 to 2002, he was with Cadence Design Systems, where he engaged in
modeling, simulation, and performance evaluation of third-generation (3G) wireless
systems. In 2002, he joined the Department of Digital Systems of the University of
Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His research
interests are in the area of digital communication systems with emphasis on the
performance evaluation of wireless systems in the presence of fading and interference.
12

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Authors Queries
Journal: IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
Paper: ITAE-51-03-39_1XO
Title: Performance of CA-CFAR Detectors in Nonhomogeneous Positive Alpha-Stable Clutter
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matters and return this form with your proof. Many thanks for your assistance
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Reference
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