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1. Clutter Suppression for Target Detection Using Hybrid Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

   https://doi.org/10.1109/RadarConf2351548.2023.10149583  

   Wang, Fangzhou ; Li, Hongbin ; Swindlehurst, A. Lee ( May 2023 , 2023 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf23))

   Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) technology is a promising approach being considered for future wireless communications due to its ability to control signal propagation with low-cost elements. This paper explores the use of an RIS for clutter mitigation and target detection in radar systems. Unlike conventional reflect-only RIS, which can only adjust the phase of the reflected signal, or active RIS, which can also amplify the reflected signal at the cost of significantly higher complexity, noise, and power consumption, we exploit hybrid RIS that can configure both the phase and modulus of the impinging signal by absorbing part of the signal energy. Such RIS can be considered as a compromise solution between conventional reflect-only and active RIS in terms of complexity, power consumption, and degrees of freedoms (DoFs). We consider two clutter suppression scenarios: with and without knowledge of the target range cell. The RIS design is formulated by minimizing the received clutter echo energy when there is no information regarding the potential target range cell. This turns out to be a convex problem and can be efficiently solved. On the other hand, when target range cell information is available, we maximize the received signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR). The resulting non-convex optimization problem is solved through fractional programming algorithms. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed hybrid RIS in comparison with conventional RIS in clutter suppression for target detection. 

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2. Joint Beamforming and Reflection Design for RIS-assisted ISAC Systems

   https://doi.org/10.23919/EUSIPCO55093.2022.9909807  

   Liu, Rang ; Li, Ming ; Swindlehurst, A. Lee ( August 2022 , 022 30th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO))

   In this paper, we investigate the potential of employing reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) in integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) systems. In particular, we consider an RIS-assisted ISAC system in which a multi-antenna base station (BS) simultaneously performs multi-user multi-input single-output (MU-MISO) communication and target detection. We aim to jointly design the transmit beamforming and receive filter of the BS, and the reflection coefficients of the RIS to maximize the sum-rate of the communication users, while satisfying a worst-case radar output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the transmit power constraint, and the unit modulus property of the reflecting coefficients. An efficient iterative algorithm based on fractional programming (FP), majorization-minimization (MM), and alternative direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is developed to solve the complicated non-convex problem. Simulation results verify the advantage of the proposed RIS-assisted ISAC scheme and the effectiveness of the developed algorithm. 

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3. Nonlinear Matched Filters via Chen–Fliess Series

   Gray, W. Steven ( December 2020 , 2020 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control)

   null (Ed.)

   A class of nonlinear matched filters is introduced suitable for detection problems using Chen–Fliess functional series. Such series can be viewed as a noncommutative analogue of Taylor series. They are written in terms of a weighted sum of iterated integrals indexed by words over a noncommuting set of symbols. The primary goal is to identify within this class the set of filters which maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio at a given time instant in order to provide a statistic for detecting a known signal. 

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4. The Effects of Gist Information and Scientific Quality on Damages in a Civil Trial

   Dellapaolera, K.S. ( March 2020 , Annual Conference of the American Psychology-Law Society.)

   Abstract: 100 words Jurors are increasingly exposed to scientific information in the courtroom. To determine whether providing jurors with gist information would assist in their ability to make well-informed decisions, the present experiment utilized a Fuzzy Trace Theory-inspired intervention and tested it against traditional legal safeguards (i.e., judge instructions) by varying the scientific quality of the evidence. The results indicate that jurors who viewed high quality evidence rated the scientific evidence significantly higher than those who viewed low quality evidence, but were unable to moderate the credibility of the expert witness and apply damages appropriately resulting in poor calibration. Summary: <1000 words Jurors and juries are increasingly exposed to scientific information in the courtroom and it remains unclear when they will base their decisions on a reasonable understanding of the relevant scientific information. Without such knowledge, the ability of jurors and juries to make well-informed decisions may be at risk, increasing chances of unjust outcomes (e.g., false convictions in criminal cases). Therefore, there is a critical need to understand conditions that affect jurors’ and juries’ sensitivity to the qualities of scientific information and to identify safeguards that can assist with scientific calibration in the courtroom. The current project addresses these issues with an ecologically valid experimental paradigm, making it possible to assess causal effects of evidence quality and safeguards as well as the role of a host of individual difference variables that may affect perceptions of testimony by scientific experts as well as liability in a civil case. Our main goal was to develop a simple, theoretically grounded tool to enable triers of fact (individual jurors) with a range of scientific reasoning abilities to appropriately weigh scientific evidence in court. We did so by testing a Fuzzy Trace Theory-inspired intervention in court, and testing it against traditional legal safeguards. Appropriate use of scientific evidence reflects good calibration – which we define as being influenced more by strong scientific information than by weak scientific information. Inappropriate use reflects poor calibration – defined as relative insensitivity to the strength of scientific information. Fuzzy Trace Theory (Reyna & Brainerd, 1995) predicts that techniques for improving calibration can come from presentation of easy-to-interpret, bottom-line “gist” of the information. Our central hypothesis was that laypeople’s appropriate use of scientific information would be moderated both by external situational conditions (e.g., quality of the scientific information itself, a decision aid designed to convey clearly the “gist” of the information) and individual differences among people (e.g., scientific reasoning skills, cognitive reflection tendencies, numeracy, need for cognition, attitudes toward and trust in science). Identifying factors that promote jurors’ appropriate understanding of and reliance on scientific information will contribute to general theories of reasoning based on scientific evidence, while also providing an evidence-based framework for improving the courts’ use of scientific information. All hypotheses were preregistered on the Open Science Framework. Method Participants completed six questionnaires (counterbalanced): Need for Cognition Scale (NCS; 18 items), Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT; 7 items), Abbreviated Numeracy Scale (ABS; 6 items), Scientific Reasoning Scale (SRS; 11 items), Trust in Science (TIS; 29 items), and Attitudes towards Science (ATS; 7 items). Participants then viewed a video depicting a civil trial in which the defendant sought damages from the plaintiff for injuries caused by a fall. The defendant (bar patron) alleged that the plaintiff (bartender) pushed him, causing him to fall and hit his head on the hard floor. Participants were informed at the outset that the defendant was liable; therefore, their task was to determine if the plaintiff should be compensated. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 experimental conditions: 2 (quality of scientific evidence: high vs. low) x 3 (safeguard to improve calibration: gist information, no-gist information [control], jury instructions). An expert witness (neuroscientist) hired by the court testified regarding the scientific strength of fMRI data (high [90 to 10 signal-to-noise ratio] vs. low [50 to 50 signal-to-noise ratio]) and gist or no-gist information both verbally (i.e., fairly high/about average) and visually (i.e., a graph). After viewing the video, participants were asked if they would like to award damages. If they indicated yes, they were asked to enter a dollar amount. Participants then completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Modified Short Form (PANAS-MSF; 16 items), expert Witness Credibility Scale (WCS; 20 items), Witness Credibility and Influence on damages for each witness, manipulation check questions, Understanding Scientific Testimony (UST; 10 items), and 3 additional measures were collected, but are beyond the scope of the current investigation. Finally, participants completed demographic questions, including questions about their scientific background and experience. The study was completed via Qualtrics, with participation from students (online vs. in-lab), MTurkers, and non-student community members. After removing those who failed attention check questions, 469 participants remained (243 men, 224 women, 2 did not specify gender) from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds (70.2% White, non-Hispanic). Results and Discussion There were three primary outcomes: quality of the scientific evidence, expert credibility (WCS), and damages. During initial analyses, each dependent variable was submitted to a separate 3 Gist Safeguard (safeguard, no safeguard, judge instructions) x 2 Scientific Quality (high, low) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Consistent with hypotheses, there was a significant main effect of scientific quality on strength of evidence, F(1, 463)=5.099, p=.024; participants who viewed the high quality evidence rated the scientific evidence significantly higher (M= 7.44) than those who viewed the low quality evidence (M=7.06). There were no significant main effects or interactions for witness credibility, indicating that the expert that provided scientific testimony was seen as equally credible regardless of scientific quality or gist safeguard. Finally, for damages, consistent with hypotheses, there was a marginally significant interaction between Gist Safeguard and Scientific Quality, F(2, 273)=2.916, p=.056. However, post hoc t-tests revealed significantly higher damages were awarded for low (M=11.50) versus high (M=10.51) scientific quality evidence F(1, 273)=3.955, p=.048 in the no gist with judge instructions safeguard condition, which was contrary to hypotheses. The data suggest that the judge instructions alone are reversing the pattern, though nonsignificant, those who received the no gist without judge instructions safeguard awarded higher damages in the high (M=11.34) versus low (M=10.84) scientific quality evidence conditions F(1, 273)=1.059, p=.30. Together, these provide promising initial results indicating that participants were able to effectively differentiate between high and low scientific quality of evidence, though inappropriately utilized the scientific evidence through their inability to discern expert credibility and apply damages, resulting in poor calibration. These results will provide the basis for more sophisticated analyses including higher order interactions with individual differences (e.g., need for cognition) as well as tests of mediation using path analyses. [References omitted but available by request] Learning Objective: Participants will be able to determine whether providing jurors with gist information would assist in their ability to award damages in a civil trial. 

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5. "Distribution Results for a Multi-Rank Version of the Reed-Yu Detector"

   P. Pakrooh1, L. L. ( October 2017 , Conference record - Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, & Computers)

   In this paper we revisit a detector first derived by Reed and Yu [1], generalized by Bliss and Parker [2], and recently studied by Hiltunen, Loubaton, and Chevalier [3], [4]. The problem is to detect a known signal transmitted over an unknown MIMO channel of unknown complex gains and unknown additive noise covariance. The probability distribution of a CFAR detector for this problem was first derived for the SIMO channel in [1]. We generalize this distribution for the case of a MIMO channel, and show that the CFAR detector statistic is distributed as the product of independent scalar beta random variables under the null. Our results, based on the theory of beta distributed random matrices, hold for M symbols transmitted from p transmitters and received at L receivers. The asymptotic results of [3], [4] are based on large random matrix theory, which assumes L and M to be unbounded. 

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