Divide the required span into the receiver's usable instantaneous segments, including overlap and excluded edge bins. For a swept or stepped receiver, total revisit time includes tuning and settling, acquisition, dwell, detector processing, transfer and any calibration interval for every segment. For channelized or FFT operation, use effective bin spacing, window and processing overlap rather than assuming the sample rate equals usable resolution.
RBW must be fine enough to separate the narrowest channel or event required by the task. Narrower RBW generally lowers integrated noise and improves frequency discrimination, but it also demands longer observation or filter settling. The scan plan must therefore publish span, RBW, detector, dwell, update or revisit time and dead intervals as one set.
Compare revisit time with event duration and repetition. A burst that starts and ends between visits can be missed even when its level is high. A probability-of-intercept value is meaningful only with a defined signal duration, arrival model, bandwidth, level, trigger and receiver mode; otherwise report measured capture success for the tested event set instead.