In navigation, a radio beacon or radiobeacon is a kind of beacon, a device that marks a fixed location and allows direction-finding equipment to find relative bearing. But instead of employing visible light, radio beacons transmit electromagnetic radiation in the radio wave band. They are used for direction-finding systems on ships, aircraft and vehicles.[1]
Radio beacons transmit a continuous or periodic radio signal with limited information (for example, its identification or location) on a specified radio frequency. Occasionally, the beacon's transmission includes other information, such as telemetric or meteorological data.
Radio beacons have many applications, including air and sea navigation, propagation research, robotic mapping, radio-frequency identification (RFID), near-field communication (NFC) and indoor navigation, as with real-time locating systems (RTLS) like Syledis or simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).
- ^ Wragg, David W. (1973). A Dictionary of Aviation (first ed.). Osprey. p. 220. ISBN 9780850451634.