Emergency locator beacon

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Homing beacon
)

An emergency locator beacon is a

locate airplanes, vessels, and persons in distress and in need of immediate rescue. Various types of emergency locator beacons are carried by aircraft, ships, vehicles, hikers and cross-country skiers. In case of an emergency, such as the aircraft crashing, the ship sinking, or a hiker becoming lost, the transmitter is deployed and begins to transmit a continuous radio signal, which is used by search and rescue teams to quickly find the emergency and render aid. The purpose of all emergency locator beacons is to help rescuers find survivors within the so-called "golden day",[1]
the first 24 hours following a traumatic event, during which the majority of survivors can usually be saved.

Beacon types

COSPAS-SARSAT 406 MHz Distress Beacons

First generation EPIRB emergency locator beacons

Doppler frequency shift of the radio waves due to the relative motion of the transmitter and the satellite, and quickly transmit the information to the appropriate local first responder organizations, which perform the search and rescue
.

Defined officially as emergency position-indicating radiobeacon stations in the ITU Radio Regulations (Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems – Article 1.93), these transmit a coded data burst once every 50 seconds, conforming to the C/S T.001 Specification for Cospas-Sarsat 406 MHz Distress Beacons, compatible with the Cospas-Sarsat satellite receivers. The different types include:

Auxiliary maritime beacons

  • ENOS Rescue-System
    • A rescue beacon system designed for use by divers who have drifted away from their dive boats.
  • Search and rescue transponder (SART)
    • A specialized radar beacon (RACON) that emits a string of 12 dots (replaced by arcs and circles when closer) for display on an X-band radar screen when scanned.

Man-overboard beacons

Personal locator beacon for divers - sealed for immersion
  • MSLDs (Maritime Survivor Locating Devices ) are man-overboard signalling devices, first standardized in 2016.[3]
    • A Maritime Survivor Locator Device (MSLD) is a man-overboard locator beacon. In the U.S., rules were established in 2016 in 47 C.F.R. Part 95. A MSLD may transmit on 121.500 MHz, or one of these: 156.525 MHz, 156.750 MHz, 156.800 MHz, 156.850 MHz, 161.975 MHz, 162.025 MHz (bold are Canadian-required frequencies).

SEND—Satellite Emergency Notification Devices

Avalanche beacons

Other beacons

See also

  • Survival radio – Small radios carried to facilitate rescue in an emergency
  • Direction finding – Measurement of the direction from which a received signal was transmitted
  • Global Maritime Distress and Safety System – Worldwide emergency communication system for ships at sea
  • LoJack – Device for tracking vehicles when stolen
  • Search and rescue – Search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger
  • Survival craft station – Mobile radio transceiver intended solely for survival purposes
  • Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station
     – Distress radio beacon, a tracking transmitter that is triggered during an accident

References

  1. ^ Community Emergency Response Team Participant Handbook
  2. ^ Milovanovich, C. (7 May 2009). "Inquest into the death of David Iredale" (PDF). Lawlink. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  3. ^ "Maritime Survivor Locating Devices (MSLDs)".