Data processing to detect signal pulse in noise pulses

To detect the presence of a signal in noise, where both signal and noise consist of a series of pulses at random intervals and the signal is almost submerged within the noise, the pulses are passed through a time gate arranged to accept only those pulses for which the preceding time interval is less than the average for the noise pulses alone. Successive pulses may be processed in one of a number of parallel channels, each including such a time gate, and the numbers of accepted pulses in each channel combined in unit time periods to give an output signal, which may undergo further processing such as passage through an adder and an amplitude gate. The flow rate of fluid in a pipe is measured by neutron activation using a pulsed source and determining the time interval for the resulting γ-pulses to be detected. (author)