RKHS Representations for Augmented Quaternion Random Signals: Application to Detection Problems

The reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) methodology has shown to be a suitable tool for the resolution of a wide range of problems in statistical signal processing both in the real and complex domains. It relies on the idea of transforming the original functional data into an infinite series representation by projection onto an specific RKHS, which usually simplifies the statistical treatment without any loss of efficiency. Moreover, the advantages of quaternion algebra over real-valued three and four-dimensional vector algebra in the modelling of multidimensional data have been proven useful in much relatively recent research. This paper accordingly proposes a generic RKHS framework for the statistical analysis of augmented quaternion random vectors, which provide a complete description of their second order characteristics. It will allow us to exploit the full advantages of the RKHS theory in widely linear processing applications, such as signal detection. In particular, we address the detection of a quaternion signal disturbed by additive Gaussian noise and the discrimination between two quaternion Gaussian signals in continuous time.