1 : A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for optimizing a plurality of parameters for a detection system to yield a maximum probability of detection for a plurality of predetermined probabilities of false alarm, the method comprising: using a genetic algorithm in combination with a simulated annealing algorithm to minimize an objective function, the genetic algorithm using a chromosome to represent a set of parameter values and the simulated annealing algorithm having a temperature parameter.