ACR&Artex PathFinder3 SART - Manual (Page 4)

Y1-03-0170J 1
SECTION 1 - HOW THE
PATHFINDER™
3
WORKS
The
PathFinder™
3
helps search and rescue services to quickly locate a life
raft in the event of a rescue at sea. The SART can either be stowed in a life
raft, or mounted next to emergency exits and then carried to the life raft in
an emergency.
During an emergency, simply switch the SART on. When a vessel or
aircraft with marine X-band radar comes within 5 to 7 nautical miles of the
life raft, the SART generates a distinctive “distress” pattern on the radar
screen (see Figure 1). The
ship’s radar signal guides the rescuers directly
to the SART.
A SART is a Search and Rescue Transponder that provides location
information to search radars operating in the X-band (9.2
– 9.5 GHz). Once
activated, the SART detects the radar signal of the search craft and sends a
series of response pulses to the radar of the search craft, which in turn
causes a series of 12 equally spaced arcs to appear on the radar display
(see Figure 1). The arcs indicate the range to the SART location. The rescue
craft follows the direction shown and proceeds to the SART. Note that the
number of viewable “dots”, as shown in Figure 1, is dependent on the radar
setting, the range scale and the distance to the SART.
Figure 1- Radar Distress Pattern