A search-and-revisit procedure for early target detection with agile-beam radars

A two-step scanning policy for early target detection with agile-beam radars is proposed and analyzed here. In the first step (search) the whole area is scanned, while in the second step (revisit) the ambiguity on returns whose test statistic is close to the threshold is solved. The theoretical analysis, corroborated by experimental results, shows that the additional degrees of freedom provided by the revisit phase results in a reduction of the mean time needed to detect the appearance of a new target in the controlled scene.