A method for detecting the presence of a security tag, comprising: performing operations by at least one master pedestal of an Electronic Article Surveillance ("EAS") system, the EAS system including the at least one master pedestal and at least one slave pedestal, to determine a first Tx/Rx scheme to be used during a first iteration of an EAS tag detection process including the steps of: randomly selecting a first total number of time windows from a plurality of total number of time windows in which an EAS exciter signal is to be transmitted from the at least one master pedestal or the at least one slave pedestal, and randomly selecting particular time windows for the randomly selected first total number of time windows from said plurality of total number of time windows in which the EAS exciter signal is to be transmitted during the EAS tag detection process; communicating information specifying the first Tx/Rx scheme from the master pedestal to the at least one slave pedestal of the EAS system; and performing transmit and receive operations by the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal in accordance with the first Tx/Rx scheme; wherein the first Tx/Rx scheme specifies during which time windows of the plurality of time windows the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal is to only transmit, only receive, or both transmit and receive; further comprising making a determination by the at least one master pedestal or the at least one slave pedestal that a responding device is not an EAS security tag when a response signal is received by at least one of the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal exclusively during a time window in which the EAS exciter signal was not transmitted; or further comprising making a determination by the at least one master pedestal or the at least one slave pedestal that a responding device is an EAS security tag when a response signal is received by at least one of the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal exclusively during a time window in which the EAS exciter signal was transmitted; and issuing an alarm indicating that the presence of an EAS security tag has been detected. performing operations by at least one master pedestal of an Electronic Article Surveillance ("EAS") system, the EAS system including the at least one master pedestal and at least one slave pedestal, to determine a first Tx/Rx scheme to be used during a first iteration of an EAS tag detection process including the steps of: randomly selecting a first total number of time windows from a plurality of total number of time windows in which an EAS exciter signal is to be transmitted from the at least one master pedestal or the at least one slave pedestal, and randomly selecting particular time windows for the randomly selected first total number of time windows from said plurality of total number of time windows in which the EAS exciter signal is to be transmitted during the EAS tag detection process; randomly selecting a first total number of time windows from a plurality of total number of time windows in which an EAS exciter signal is to be transmitted from the at least one master pedestal or the at least one slave pedestal, and randomly selecting particular time windows for the randomly selected first total number of time windows from said plurality of total number of time windows in which the EAS exciter signal is to be transmitted during the EAS tag detection process; communicating information specifying the first Tx/Rx scheme from the master pedestal to the at least one slave pedestal of the EAS system; and performing transmit and receive operations by the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal in accordance with the first Tx/Rx scheme; wherein the first Tx/Rx scheme specifies during which time windows of the plurality of time windows the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal is to only transmit, only receive, or both transmit and receive; further comprising making a determination by the at least one master pedestal or the at least one slave pedestal that a responding device is not an EAS security tag when a response signal is received by at least one of the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal exclusively during a time window in which the EAS exciter signal was not transmitted; or further comprising making a determination by the at least one master pedestal or the at least one slave pedestal that a responding device is an EAS security tag when a response signal is received by at least one of the at least one master pedestal and the at least one slave pedestal exclusively during a time window in which the EAS exciter signal was transmitted; and issuing an alarm indicating that the presence of an EAS security tag has been detected.