Minimum detectable signal

A minimum detectable signal is a signal at the input of a system whose power allows it to be detected over the background electronic noise of the detector system. It can alternately be defined as a signal that produces a signal-to-noise ratio of a given value m at the output. In practice, m is usually chosen to be greater than unity. In some literature, the name sensitivity is used for this concept.

When the resulting signal is then interpreted by a human operator, as in radar systems, the related term minimum discernible signal may be used. This includes additional factors like clutter and the lifetime of the signal on the radar display. In the case of a just-detectable signal, the resulting blip on the radar display may be too small or too fleeting to be recognized. Depending on what effects are considered, the term minimum visible signal may be used to consider only whether the signal may be visible on the display, ignoring other effects like clutter.