How They Work
All the systems work something like this: A beacon is activated by a crash, a sinking, or manually by survivors. The beacon's transmission is picked up by one or more satellites. The satellite transmits the beacon's signal to its ground control station. The satellite's ground station processes the signals and forwards the data, including approximate location, to a national authority. The national authority forwards the data to a rescuing authority. The rescuing authority uses its own receiving equipment to locate the beacon and makes the rescue or recovery. Once the satellite data is in, it takes less than a minute to forward the data to any signatory nation.
There are several systems in use, with beacons of varying expense, different types of satellites and varying performance. Note that even the oldest systems provide an immense improvement in safety, compared to not having a beacon.
Read more about this topic: Distress Radiobeacon
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