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Author: kevin

  • Beacon FAQ

    What is a Cospas-Sarsat beacon?

    A Cospas-Sarsat beacon, also called a distress radio beacon or emergency beacon, is a radio transmitter that can be activated in a life-threatening emergency to summon assistance from government authorities.

    A beacon designed for use in an aircraft is known as an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT). One designed for use aboard a marine vessel is called an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). And one that is designed to be carried by an individual is known as a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). Sometimes PLBs are carried aboard aircraft or vessels, but you must check with local authorities about the circumstances under which this is permitted. Some ELTs (often older models) transmit only a legacy analogue signal on 121.5 MHz or 243 MHz. Cospas-Sarsat does NOT monitor those frequencies and such beacons rely on being received only by nearby aircraft or rescue personnel. For satellite reception of alerts by Cospas-Sarsat the beacon must be a model that transmits at 406 MHz.

    How does a distress beacon work?

    When a distress beacon is activated, it transmits a signal that can be detected by satellites. As the satellites orbit the earth, they “listen” for any activated beacons and carry the beacon signals to ground stations that compute their positions and report to rescue authorities.
    For more details see “Cospas-Sarsat System” (Public/System Overview).

    What is a Hex ID, and where can I find mine?

    The Hex ID is a 15 hexadecimal character string (valid range: numbers 0 through 9 and letters A through F), referred to as the beacon 15 Hex Identification, or 15 Hex ID. Your beacon’s 15 character Hex ID uniquely identifies your 406-MHz beacon and is encoded in the message your beacon transmits to search and rescue services if your beacon is activated. When your beacon is activated satellites will detect the transmission and relay the distress alert to search and rescue services. The Hex ID contains the country code and other identification features relative to the carrier which are dependent upon the coding protocol used. The Hex ID can identify the carrier using the radio call sign, a serial number, aircraft registration marking, etc.
    You should find your beacon’s Hex ID on a label affixed to the beacon or in the beacon documentation provided by your beacon manufacturer. If you have difficulty locating your beacon Hex ID, contact your beacon manufacturer.

    What happens if I do not register my emergency beacon?

    The System will still work but not registering your beacon defeats the purpose of owning a beacon and taking advantage of current technology. The Cospas-Sarsat System is designed to provide both identification and location information. Identification information such as the radio call sign or aircraft tail number can be encoded into the emergency beacon. If the beacon is encoded with a serial number, it is very important that it be registered as no information about the beacon user can be encoded in the beacon’s message. Furthermore some countries mandate registration by law and there may be penalties for not registering.

    As long as the System is able to obtain a position (either using Doppler processing or through the use of beacons that can transmit their position as part of the 406-MHz message), search and rescue personnel can respond to a distress signal. However, when a position is not available, search and rescue personnel have to rely on registration information. It is in these cases that rescue could be delayed until the System can obtain a position. Even with a position, the response may be delayed until the search and rescue personnel determine the nature of the distress and their capability to respond to the location of the distress. When registering a beacon, try to list two contacts, one of which the search and rescue personnel would be able to reach at any time of the day.

    Beacons can be stolen and activated maliciously and they can be activated accidentally if not cared for in a proper manner. In such circumstances the registration data can be used to contact the owner and/or emergency contacts to establish that an emergency situation does not exist. This can assist the owner to remedy a fault if one exists and it can assist the SAR authority to take appropriate action if no emergency exists. This means that your registration can help avoid the unnecessary use of valuable SAR resources and putting rescuers lives at risk.

    What if I accidentally activate my beacon?

    The most important thing is to turn it off and let the Search and Rescue Authorities know as soon as you can. There is no penalty for accidentally activating your beacon.

    We have multiple beacons. What should we do if our group is in a situation with multiple beacons that are available to be activated?

    The guidelines and examples available on this page: Guidance on Multiple Beacon Activation provide advice on activating Cospas-Sarsat beacons if multiple Cospas-Sarsat beacons are available in a distress situation.

    How should I maintain my beacon and battery?

    406-MHz distress beacons are safety-of-life devices. They are complex radio transmitters and their proper functioning in an emergency depends on proper maintenance. You MUST maintain your 406-MHz distress beacon in accordance with the instructions of the manufacturer. For aviation ELTs and marine EPIRBs, the requirements and procedures for maintenance of beacons and their external components are generally subject to national regulations or international standards. Beacon maintenance requirements also may be regulated by local authorities. Typically, maintenance procedures include, but are not limited to:

    Periodic physical inspections,
    Periodic beacon self-tests,
    Battery replacement accordingly to manufacturer instructions,
    Periodic technical inspection and service by a service center approved by the beacon manufacturer agents.
    It is important that beacon owners perform regular visual inspections of their beacons to look for physical damage, such as cracks or corrosion, in the case or other parts which could cause false activation of the beacon and/or cause the beacon to fail when activated in a real emergency.

    The beacon self-test feature, which is described in the beacon owner’s manual, is designed to verify proper operation of beacon electronics by checking all key features, including the radio transmitter and battery. Beacon self-tests can be performed by the beacon owner. Self-tests should be performed at regular time intervals, as recommended by the beacon manufacturer. Immediately contact the beacon manufacturer if a self-test indicates a failure. Avoid conducting self-tests more frequently than recommended by the manufacturer, unless you have reason to suspect a problem with a beacon. For battery-powered beacons, activating the beacon self-test consumes a small amount of the beacon’s battery energy. Therefore, excessive self-test activations may prematurely deplete the beacon battery, causing inadequate battery performance in an emergency.

    Battery replacement must be performed no later than the date indicated on the beacon label, or after activation in an emergency. During each routine inspection, verify the time remaining until replacement is required. You may also need to replace the battery earlier than indicated on the label if you have conducted an excessive number of self-tests. A healthy battery is necessary to ensure proper functioning, and sufficient operating life, of a beacon if it is activated in an emergency.

    Always use replacement batteries that have been approved as a part of the original Cospas-Sarsat type approval, and as directed by the beacon manufacturer or one of its approved service centers. Use of after-market batteries not approved by the manufacturer (purchased, for example, from some on-line vendors) could result in inadequate beacon performance during an emergency.

    If you have questions about the maintenance of, or battery replacement for, your beacon, please consult the beacon manufacturer using contact information in the user manual. You also may find contact information for beacon manufacturers on the “Contact Lists” tab of our Professionals home page.

  • How Do I Select and Purchase a 406-MHz Cospas-Sarsat Beacon?

    How Do I Select and Purchase a 406-MHz Cospas-Sarsat Beacon?

     

    Beacons are manufactured, marketed and sold competitively by several different companies through a variety of vendor chains.

    Cospas-Sarsat (working with the manufacturer and independent laboratories) rigorously tests and “type approves” beacon models before they go into production to ensure that production beacons sold to the public can be expected to operate under a variety of extreme conditions.

    The International Cospas-Sarsat Programme does not itself manufacture, market or sell beacons. A list of manufacturers is available at our Professionals website under “Contact Lists” (Pro).

    The first consideration in selecting a beacon is the type of environment in which you expect to use it. A 406-MHz beacon designed for use in an aircraft is known as an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT).[1] One designed for use aboard a marine vessel is called an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). And one that is designed to be carried by an individual (such as while hiking/trekking) is known as a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). Sometimes PLBs are carried aboard aircraft or vessels, but you must check with local authorities about the circumstances under which this is permitted.

    Beacons have different features for activation in an emergency. Most beacons can be activated manually by a person pressing a button. Most ELTs are designed to be activated automatically by a physical shock, such as in a crash, and most EPIRBs are designed to be automatically activated by contact with water. Some EPIRBs are designed to be held in a bracket outside of the vessel such that it will “float free” and activate automatically if the vessel sinks. PLBs usually have only a manual activation capability. There are many variations of activation and deployment features for beacons to suit many, many different situations and needs, so you should evaluate these features carefully.

    During type-approval testing, beacon models are evaluated to one of two temperature extremes: -40 degrees Celsius (which receives a Class 1 type approval) and -20 degrees Celsius (which receives a Class 2 type approval).

    Many beacon models not only transmit a distress message on 406 MHz for satellite reception, they also transmit a lower powered signal on 121.5 MHz as a reference for local search teams to “home” in on the signal once they arrive near the location calculated for the beacon. In some countries such a “homing transmitter” is a mandatory beacon feature.

    Although the Cospas-Sarsat System is designed to independently locate activated distress beacons with good accuracy, many beacons now also are equipped with an integrated receiver chip for the beacon to determine its own location using signals from global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), such as GPS, GLONASS or GALILEO. If the integrated receiver chip is able to calculate a location for the beacon, that location is reported in the distress message transmitted from the beacon. GNSS-equipped beacons provide helpful redundancy in determining the beacon location and in certain circumstances can reduce the time needed for Cospas-Sarsat to locate the beacon.

    Some aviation ELTs and marine EPIRBs may have an interface that allows the beacon to have location data reported to it by the avionics or marine electronics so that the information is continuously updated, stored and available to be transmitted if the beacon is activated.

    A list of type-approved beacon models with some details about model features is available on our Professionals website under “Approved Beacon Models” (Pro/Beacons/Beacon Information).

    A few beacons, with exceptional characteristics, may not meet all of the standards for type-approval, but still may be approved for use with Cospas-Sarsat by virtue of a “letter of compatibility”. Such beacons may be perfectly suitable for your particular needs, but you will need to take extra care to be certain that is the case.

    While Cospas-Sarsat (working with the manufacturer and independent laboratories) rigorously tests and “type approves” beacon models before they go into production to ensure that production beacons sold to the public can be expected to operate under a variety of extreme conditions, Cospas-Sarsat type approval alone does NOT qualify the beacon for sale or use in any particular country, nor determine whether the beacon satisfies local and international regulatory requirements regarding aircraft and vessels. You must check with your local authorities about the number and types of beacons that may be required on your aircraft or vessel. Some of this information may be found in the “Beacon Regulations Handbook” (Pro/Beacons/Beacon Information).

    If your aircraft/vessel makes international voyages, you may be subject to specific requirements established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (e.g., Annex 6, Part 1 of the ICAO Convention) or the International Maritime Organization (e.g., Chapter IV of the IMO’s Convention on Safety of Life at Sea).

    Beacon manufacturers establish their own marketing and retailing chains. Aviation ELTs usually can be purchased at aviation equipment supply stores or service facilities. Similarly, marine EPIRBs usually can be purchased at marine supply stores or service facilities. PLBs usually can be purchased at sporting-goods and outdoor-goods stores. Beacons of all types can be purchased from vendors on the internet. Please note that if you purchase a beacon from a vendor in a country different from the one where your aircraft/vessel is flagged, or different from your country of residence, in order to successfully register the beacon you may need to have the “country code” that has been electronically encoded in the beacon reprogrammed to a new (your current) country code by an authorized service facility at an additional cost.

     

    [1] Some ELTs (often older models) transmit only a legacy analogue signal on 121.5 MHz or 243 MHz. Cospas-Sarsat does NOT monitor those frequencies and such beacons rely on being received only by nearby aircraft or rescue personnel. For satellite reception of alerts by Cospas-Sarsat the beacon must be a model that transmits at 406 MHz.

  • EPIRB alert provides location for sinking fishing vessel in North Sea

    EPIRB alert provides location for sinking fishing vessel in North Sea

    The 23.1m twin-rig trawler was reportedly around 140 miles east of Montrose, Scotland, when she transmitted a distress signal requesting assistance.

    All vessels in the vicinity were requested to assist in a rescue operation overseen by the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

    A nearby fishing vessel responded and was able to track the 406 EPIRB distress beacon, which had been activated when ship sank.

    Thankfully the vessel located the six-man crew all safe and well aboard its liferaft, and was able to transfer them safely aboard.

    A fixed-wing search aircraft was deployed by HM Coastguard, and a rescue helicopter was sent to the scene from Norway.

    Read more here:
    https://fishingnews.co.uk/news/odyssey-sinks-in-north-sea/

  • 406 EPIRB leads US Coast Guard to two boaters and their dog 55 miles from Florida coast

    406 EPIRB leads US Coast Guard to two boaters and their dog 55 miles from Florida coast

    Two people and their dog were rescued after their boat stopped working over 50 miles from shore over the weekend.

    The U.S. Coast Guard said the 38-foot boat stopped working 55 miles from Palm Coast.

    Following a 406 beacon distress signal from an EPIRB, a Clearwater station aircraft was able to find the stranded boaters and guide water crews to their location.

    Read more here:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/coast-guard-rescues-2-people-and-their-dog-55-miles-from-florida-coast/ar-BB1peiQV

  • 2023-08-08 | Before you go hiking, read these life-saving tips from first responders

    National Geographic magazine recommends carriage of a distress beacon as the best safety tool for climbers and trekkers.

    Thousands of people go missing every year while exploring mountains, forests, rivers, and deserts. Safety experts tell us how to avoid mishaps—and what to do if you need rescuing.

    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/safety-tips-from-first-responders-you-need-to-know

  • Cospas-Sarsat Distress Alerts

    These statistics are copied from the latest issue of the System Data document, which is available here: http://www.cospas-sarsat.int/en/documents-pro/system-data.

     

    Since its inception in 1982 the Cospas-Sarsat System has provided distress alert information which has assisted in the rescue of 41,750 persons in 11,788 distress situations.

    In 2015 only, the System provided information that was used to rescue 2,185 persons in 718 distress situations. The locations of these events are depicted on the map below. 

    GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF ALL REPORTED SAR EVENTS
    FOR WHICH COSPAS-SARSAT DATA WAS USED (2015)

     Geogr Dist SAR 2015

    The details for specific SAR events assisted by Cospas-Sarsat, as reported by national Administrations to the Cospas-Sarsat Secretariat, are provided in Annex C to document C/S R.007 “Cospas-Sarsat Report on System Status and Operations” availabe under our Professionals webiste under the “System Documents” section (Pro/Documents). Annex C provides both overall statistical information as well as a short description of each SAR event for which Cospas-Sarsat data was instrumental. Each alert is categorized as either:

    Only Alert

    Cospas-Sarsat was the only source of information provided to SAR authorities.

    First Alert

    Cospas-Sarsat was the first source of information provided to SAR authorities.
    Supporting Data

    Information provided by the Cospas-Sarsat System which was not the first or only alert, but was used in conjunction with information from other sources in the SAR operation.
    Data not used in SAR

    Cospas-Sarsat provided alert and/or location data which was not used by SAR services in support of the search and rescue.

    Distress events for which Cospas-Sarsat data was provided to SAR services but was not used, because the necessary information had previously been provided by another source or the distress situation had already been resolved, were not included in the Cospas-Sarsat summary statistics provided at Annex C to document C/S R.007. (In 2015 there were 196 such distress reports).

     

  • Quick Statistics

     These statistics are copied from the latest issue of the System Data document, which is available here: http://www.cospas-sarsat.int/en/documents-pro/system-data.

     

    As of December 2015 the Cospas-Sarsat System had provided assistance in rescuing at least 41,750 persons in over 11,788 SAR events.

    As of April 2017:

    Governments and Agencies that are Cospas-Sarsat Programme “Participants”

     

    4 Parties to the Cospas-Sarsat Agreement

    29 Ground Segment Providers

    9 User States

    2 Participating Organisations

    Total = 44 Participants

     

    The Components of the Cospas-Sarsat System

    Distress Beacons Worldwide about 2,000,000

    Ground Segment

    Mission Control Centres (MCCs): 30

    LEOLUTs: 53

    GEOLUTs: 21

    Space Segment 

    LEOSAR satellites: 5

    GEOSAR satellites: 5

     

    System Operation

    A more detailed description of the System status is provided in the Cospas-Sarsat “System Data” document available on our Professionals website (Pro/Documents). 

    This document includes:

    • Statistics on the number of SAR events assisted by Cospas-Sarsat, and the number of lives rescued in these events

    • Maps depicting LEOSAR and GEOSAR coverage

    • The list of countries and organisations which participate in the management of the Programme and System operation

    • Space and ground segment equipment availability

    • The list of type approved 406 MHz beacons and beacon manufacturers

    • Estimated beacon population

     

  • Statistics

    These statistics are copied from the latest issue of the System Data document, which is available here: http://www.cospas-sarsat.int/en/documents-pro/system-data.

    Geographic Distribution of Confirmed SAR Events for which Cospas-Sarsat Data was Used

    (January to December 2015)

    Geogr Dist SAR 2015

    Distribution of SAR Events Assisted by Cospas-Sarsat by Type of Events
    (January to December 2015)

     

     Type of SAR Events 2015

     

    Persons Rescued by Type of SAR Event Assisted by Cospas-Sarsat 
    (January to December 2015)

    Persons Rescued 2015

    Number of SAR Events and Persons Rescued with the Assistance of Cospas-Sarsat Alert Data

    (121.5 and 406 MHz)

    (January 1994 to December 2015)

    Persons Rescued 2015 bar Graph

    Number of SAR Events Assisted 

    by Cospas-Sarsat (January to December 2015)

    Number of SAR Events 2015 Bar Graph

     

  • Cospas-Sarsat System

    The basic Cospas-Sarsat concept is illustrated in the adjacent figure. The System is composed of:

    • distress radiobeacons (ELTs for aviation use, EPIRBs for maritime use, and PLBs for personal use) which transmit signals during distress situations;

    • instruments on board satellites in geostationary and low-altitude Earth orbits which detect the signals transmitted by distress radiobeacons;

    • ground receiving stations, referred to as Local Users Terminals (LUTs), which receive and process the satellite downlink signal to generate distress alerts; and

    • Mission Control Centers (MCCs) which receive alerts produced by LUTs and forward them to Rescue Coordination Centers (RCCs), Search and Rescue Points Of Contacts (SPOCs) or other MCCs.

    The Cospas-Sarsat System includes two types of satellites:

    • satellites in low-altitude Earth orbit (LEO) which form the LEOSAR System
    • satellites in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) which form the GEOSAR System

    The future Cospas-Sarsat System will include a new type of satellite in the medium-altitude Earth orbit (MEO) which will form the MEOSAR System. 

    Additional information on the three satellite systems, the LUTs, and the MCCs is provided in the tabs below. 

     [module-203]

  • Detailed Cospas-Sarsat System Description

    The Cospas-Sarsat system only detects and locates distress beacons operating at 406 MHz. 121.5/243 MHz processing by Cospas-Sarsat ceased on 1 February 2009.

    The Cospas-Sarsat  System is composed of:

    • 406-MHz radiobeacons carried aboard ships (EPIRBs), aircraft (ELTs), or used as personal locator beacons (PLBs);
    • ship security alert devices (SSAS);
    • polar-orbiting satellites in low Earth orbit from the LEOSAR system and geostationary satellites from the GEOSAR system; and
    • a ground segment consisting of satellite receiving stations called Local User Terminals (LUTs), referred to as LEOLUTs for the LEOSAR system and GEOLUTs for the GEOSAR system, and data distribution nodes called Mission Control Centres (MCCs).

    406-MHz Beacons

    Frequencies in the 406.0 – 406.1 MHz band have been exclusively reserved for distress beacons operating with satellite systems. The Cospas-Sarsat 406-MHz beacons have been specifically designed for use with the LEOSAR system to provide improved performance in comparison to the now obsolete 121.5-MHz beacons. 406-MHz beacons have specific requirements on the stability of the transmitted frequency, and the inclusion of a digital message which allows the transmission of encoded data such as unique beacon identification.

    Second-generation 406-MHz beacons were introduced in 1997 which allow the transmission in the 406-MHz message of encoded position data acquired by the beacons from global satellite navigation systems such as GPS, using internal or external navigation receivers. This feature is of particular interest for GEOSAR alerts which otherwise would not be able to provide position information.

    LEOSAR System

    The Cospas-Sarsat LEOSAR system uses polar-orbiting satellites and, therefore, operates with basic constraints which result from non-continuous coverage provided by LEOSAR satellites. The use of low-altitude orbiting satellites provides for a strong Doppler effect in the up-link signal thereby enabling the use of Doppler positioning techniques. The LEOSAR system operates in two coverage modes, namely local and global coverage.

    LEOSAR Local Mode

    When the satellite receives beacon signals, the on-board Search and Rescue Processor (SARP) recovers the digital data from the beacon signal, measures the Doppler frequency shift and time-tags the information. The result of this processing is formatted as digital data which is transferred to the satellite downlink for transmission to any LEOLUT in view. This data is also simultaneously stored on the spacecraft for later transmission and ground processing in the global coverage mode.

    The diagram to the left depicts a LEOSAR satellite orbiting the Earth and its instantaneous field of view is indicated by the red circle. In this example the beacon located in the Northern Atlantic is within the local coverage area of the LEOLUT located on the north west coast of Africa whereas the beacon located in Antarctica is not.

    In addition to the local mode provided by the SARP instrument, a repeater can also provide a local mode of operation. The difference between the SARP and the repeater is that the SARP performs some of the processing onboard the satellite, whereas the repeater simply reflects the beacon signal to the Earth, thereby requiring additional processing on the ground.

    LEOSAR Global Mode

    The 406-MHz SARP system provides global coverage by storing data derived from onboard processing of beacon signal, in the spacecraft memory unit. The content of the memory is continuously broadcast on the satellite downlink. Therefore, each beacon can be located by all LEOLUTs which track the satellite (even for LEOLUTs which were not in the footprint of the satellite at the time the beacon was detected by the satellite). This provides the global coverage and introduces ground segment processing redundancy.

    The diagram to the right depicts a LEOSAR satellite orbiting the Earth in the direction of the north pole. The blue circle represents the satellite field of view at a point in the recent past when the satellite was over the southern Atlantic Ocean. At that point in time the satellite detected the beacon in Antarctica, however, since there were no LEOLUTs in its field of view, a distress alert could not be generated at that time. Nevertheless, the satellite continued to transmit the processed data associated with this distress beacon. When the LEOLUT located on the north west coast of Africa came into the view of the satellite, this LEOLUT received the beacon information and generated a distress alert.

    The global mode may also offer an additional advantage over the local mode in respect of alerting time. As the beacon message is recorded in the satellite memory by the first satellite pass which detected the beacon, the waiting time is not dependent upon the satellite achieving simultaneous visibility with the LEOLUT and the beacon. Consequently, the time required to produce alerts could be considerably reduced.

    The animated graphic depicts two beacons: the yellow beacon is detected in global mode only whereas the red beacon is detected in both local and global modes.

    GEOSAR System

    Cospas-Sarsat has demonstrated that the current generation of Cospas-Sarsat beacons could be detected using search and rescue instruments on board geostationary satellites. The GEOSAR system consists of repeaters carried on board various geostationary satellites and the associated ground facilities called GEOLUTs which process the satellite signal.

    Geostationary satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 36,000 km, with an orbit period of 24 hours, thus appearing fixed relative to the Earth at approximately 0 degrees latitude (i.e. over the equator). A single geostationary satellite provides GEOSAR uplink coverage of about one third of the globe, except for polar regions. Therefore, three geostationary satellites equally spaced in longitude can provide continuous coverage of all areas of the globe between approximately 70 degrees North and 70 degrees South latitude.

    Since GEOSAR satellites remain fixed relative to the Earth, there is no Doppler effect on the received frequency and, therefore, the Doppler positioning technique cannot be used to locate distress beacons. To provide rescuers with position information, the beacon location must be either:

    • acquired by the beacon though an internal or an external navigation receiver and encoded in the beacon message, or
    • derived from the LEOSAR system Doppler processing.

    Cospas-Sarsat has demonstrated that the GEOSAR and LEOSAR system search and rescue capabilities are complementary. For example, the GEOSAR system can provide almost immediate alerting in the footprint of the GEOSAR satellite, whereas the LEOSAR system:

    • provides excellent coverage of the polar regions (which are beyond the coverage of geostationary satellites);
    • can calculate the location of distress events using Doppler processing techniques; and
    • is less susceptible to obstructions which may block a beacon signal in a given direction because the satellite is continuously moving with respect to the beacon.
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