Patent ID: 8687742

Claim:
An ensemble detector, the ensemble detector comprising: a receiver; a switching device coupled to the receiver, the switching device configured to selectively connect each of a plurality of reference noise signals to the receiver; and a gain modulation circuit coupled to the receiver and configured to vary a gain of the receiver based on a forcing signal by inducing gain fluctuations from an external signal driving said gain modulation circuit according to natural occurring fluctuations in a measurement system to analyze and model non-stationary processes by mixing the external signal with a plurality of reference noise signals to produce an ensemble data set; whereby the switching device selectively connects each of the plurality of reference noise signals to the receiver to produce an output signal derived from the plurality of reference noise signals and the forcing signal to produce an estimate of a measurand, {circumflex over (T)} A M according to an equation: {circumflex over (T)} A M =Æ’(Î½ A ( t A ),{Î½ 1 ( t 1 ), T 1 }, . . . ,{Î½ N ( t N ), T N }) where superscript M denotes an estimate where T A is constant, the standard deviation estimates the uncertainty in the estimate of the measurand by {circumflex over (Ïƒ)} {circumflex over (T)} A 2 = ({circumflex over (T)} A M âˆ’T A ) 2 ; wherein the ensemble data set is used to produce the output signal within the uncertainty of the estimate of the measurand.