Comparison of Bistable Systems and Matched Filters in Non-Gaussian Noise

Abstract

In this paper, we report that for a weak signal buried in the heavy-tailed noise, the bistable system can outperform the matched filter, yielding a higher output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or a lower probability of error. Moreover, by adding mutually independent internal noise components to an array of bistable systems, the output SNR or the probability of error can be further improved via the mechanism of stochastic resonance (SR). These comparison results demonstrate the potential capability of bistable systems for detecting weak signals in non-Gaussian noise environments.