NAVAIDS

Ongoing development ensures racon future

13 years ago

The growing use of GNSS in recent years has stimulated marine navigation and AtoN capability, with many of those involved in the field predicting the replacement of racons with such systems.

A racon is seen mounted on the Miah Maull Shoal Light off Delaware USA

However, leading national authorities recognise that increased reliance on GPS introduces significant additional risks and that the high dependability and independent position fixing of racons ensures them a good future for at least the medium term.

Various studies have shown that reliance for navigation on GNSS alone can be completely disrupted by man-made intervention or natural phenomena. For this reason, there are ongoing development projects to integrate more detailed information into the simple Morse reporting message. Early trials of Tideland Signal’s SeaBeacon 2 System 6e-Racon have shown promising results.

From 1 July 2008 IMO MSC79 removed the requirement for S-Band radar to trigger racons and this has encouraged developments in racon design. One result was a significant advance in the capability of the Tideland Signal racon. SeaBeacon 2 System 6e-Navcon, which is fitted with both an X-Band antenna and a type approved AIS AtoN Type 1, provides the mariner with considerable detail on the racon location.

Looking further forward, new technology or solid state radar is being developed by a number of radar companies. Until a common specification allows racon specialists to develop viable new racons, the units that perform most effectively with such radars will be traditional racons with the highest sensitivity.

SeaBeacon 2 System 6 is available in three main variants, General Marine Use/Safe Area and Zone 2 Certified or Zone 1 Certified for use in hazardous areas, with a number of options available to match different requirements. Standard features include side-lobe suppression, proportional scaling and normal traffic power consumption of only 0.75W, with a heavy traffic maximum of only 1.06W.

The latest Tideland design also offers a high sensitivity of -50dBm in both X- and S-Band, which is claimed to be more than that of any other racon currently available. It is also over eight times more sensitive than -40dBm, meaning that the units will respond better to weaker interrogation from lower power radars or to radars at greater distances/ranges.

One national authority has calculated that the cost of through-life ownership for a Tideland Signal racon is considerably lower than that of any other design and a mere 5% of the initial purchase price. This is based on an average trouble free service life to date of over 15 years for the System 6 model.