An Analytical Characterization of Maximum Likelihood Signal-to-Noise Ratio Estimation

Abstract

In this work, the maximum-likelihood estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio is analytically characterized. In particular, the useful and the noise power are modelled by a X <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> -distribution, whereas the resulting signal-to-noise ratio is described in items of a non-central F-distribution. In addition, to better evaluate the estimator efficiency, the Cramer-Rao bound is computed. Finally, in order to completely verify the analytical characterization, the transmit-receive chain has been simulated, and the numerical results are compared to the analytical formulas