Wavelet transform as a bank of the matched filters

The wavelet transform is a powerful tool for the analysis of short transient signals. We detail the advantages of the wavelet transform over the Fourier transform and the windowed Fourier transform and consider the wavelet as a bank of the VanderLugt matched filters. This methodology is particularly useful in those cases in which the shape of the mother wavelet is approximately known a priori. A two-dimensional optical correlator with a bank of the wavelet filters is implemented to yield the time-frequency joint representation of the wavelet transform of one-dimensional signals.