The multi-national satellite-based distress alert detection and notification system
The acronym COSPAS-SARSAT is derived from the Russian term that translates to “Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress” and the English term “Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking”.
Neither term wholly reflects the role of this Canadian, French, Russian (originally Soviet Union), and United States project.
The satellite portion of the system consists of search and rescue signal processors (SARPs) that are attached to various geosynchronous and low-earth polar orbit satellites.
The SARPs monitor distress frequencies utilized by emergency transmitters.
There are currently three types of emergency transmitters: (1) emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) utilized primarily by the maritime community; (2) emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) utilized primarily by the aviation community; and (3) personal locator beacons (PLBs) intended primarily for personal use.
Early emergency transmitters utilized either the 121.5 MHz or the 243.0 MHz bandwidths, but current transmitters and receivers operate on the 406 MHz bandwidth.
The transmitter units include a global positioning system (GPS) transceiver, so that the location of the incident is included in the distress signal.
As the search and rescue (SAR) community now says, the goal is to take the search out of search and rescue.
There are two other components to the COSPAS-SARSAT system.
First, there are a series of satellite downlink receiving and signal processing stations, called local user terminals or LUTs.
When a LUT receives the report of a distress signal from a SARP, it routes the signal to the associated mission control center (MCC).
The MCC then distributes the report to the rescue coordination center (RCC) with responsibility for the site of the distress incident.
By international agreement, the entire world is divided into a network of RCC areas.
Those RCCs then notify the appropriate rescue units.
If the owner of the emergency transmitter has registered the transmitter with its appropriate national agency, the transmission includes significant identifying information, allowing the rescue unit to know with a high level of certainty exactly what it is seeking.
Truly, the capability now exists to largely reduce SAR to a focused rescue mission.