Search and rescue radar transponder

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A standard SART, produced by Jotron, on board a Norwegian ferry

Shipboard Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) installations include one or more Search and Rescue Radar Transponder (SART) devices which are used to locate a survival craft or distressed vessel by creating a series of dots on a rescuing ship's radar display. A SART will only respond to an X-band (3 cm wavelength) radar. It will not be seen on S-band (10 cm) or other radar.

The SART may be triggered by any X-band radar within a range of approximately 8 nautical miles (15 kilometers). Each radar pulse received causes it to transmit a response which is swept repetitively across the complete radar frequency band. When interrogated, it first sweeps rapidly (0.4 microsecond) through the band before beginning a relatively slow sweep (7.5 microseconds) through the band back to the starting frequency. This process is repeated for a total of twelve complete cycles. At some point in each sweep, the SART frequency will match that of the interrogating radar and be within the pass band of the radar receiver. If the SART is within range, the frequency match during each of the 12 slow sweeps will produce a response on the radar display, thus a line of 12 dots equally spaced by about 0.64 nautical mile (1.2 km) will be shown. When the range to the SART is reduced to about 1 nautical mile (2 km), the radar display may show also the 12 responses generated during the fast sweeps. These additional dot responses, which also are equally spaced by 0.64 nautical mile (1.2 km), will be interspersed with the original line of 12 dots. They will appear slightly weaker and smaller than the original dots.

SARTs are typically cylindrical, about the size of a person's forearm, and brightly colored.