PHOENIX

PHOENIX MEOSAR PLB

The seas and oceans on the coastlines of the European Union together with the more than 12,000 commercial ports located in EU coastal states play a major role in Europe’s economy and security. Its ocean and seas are used to transport goods and people from within and outside the EU, to produce food from fisheries and aquaculture, and to produce energy from both non-renewable (oil and gas) and renewable (wave, wind) energy sources. The use of the seas and coasts has increased as traditional industries grow and as new industries emerge. These industries are essential to the European economy and society with an estimated Gross Value Added (GVA) of at least EUR 460–485 billion and employ at least 6.6–7 million people. In this framework, end-to-end solutions based on Galileo’s SAR service and leveraging its Return Link have multiplied in order to improve safety and security of operations at sea. 

Among these solutions, the PHOENIX project developed a new core beacon platform for global and local rescue. The beacon combines a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) with built-in Automatic Identification Service (AIS), for maritime applications, integrating the Return Link feature utilising LED indicators to confirm receipt of a SAR distress call, thus delivering the lowest cost PLB available, the smallest possible form factor and an easy programming solution.

The PHOENIX project focuses on the development of a 406MHz MEOSAR Personal Locator Beacon incorporating the ‘First Generation’ COSPAS-SARSAT 406MHz waveform; accessing the benefits of the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite Systems and more specifically of the Return Link Service (RLS)/Return Link Message (RLM) data encoded in the Galileo Ephemeris downlink.

Challenge and technical solution

The ambitions of the PHOENIX project were reached by developing a 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon with AIS man overboard (MOB) capable of instant detection by nearby vessels. When activated, the rescueME PLB3 transmits one's position and ID using satellite link for global rescue. The device features a blue LED RLS indicator and AIS for local rescue. The combination of integrated features and the high level of precision allows for a wider level of protection and ultimately higher probability of rescue.