A range-sampled sequential detection system

Sequential analysis has been applied to detecting a radar target of unknown range by sampling the receiver output at instants separated by a Nyquist interval and conducting a sequential test at each sampling time. The antenna beam continues to point in a given direction until all tests have terminated, after which it is moved to a new position. It is shown that this system can search the sky in about half the time needed by an ordinary system of the same sensitivity.