  We present a new method of extending the single band Analysis of Variance
period estimation algorithm to multiple bands. We use SDSS Stripe 82 RR Lyrae
to show that in the case of low number of observations per band and
non-simultaneous observations, improvements in period recovery rates of up to
$\approx$60\% are observed. We also investigate the effect of inter-band
observing cadence on period recovery rates. We find that using non-simultaneous
observation times between bands is ideal for the multiband method, and using
simultaneous multiband data is only marginally better than using single band
data. These results will be particularly useful in planning observing cadences
for wide-field astronomical imaging surveys such as LSST. They also have the
potential to improve the extraction of transient data from surveys with few
($\lesssim 30$) observations per band across several bands, such as the Dark
Energy Survey.
