New S$8.4m satellite technology to boost search-and-rescue ops
The new MEOSAR system will help with search-and-rescue operations conducted by Singapore. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — The Republic will enhance its sea and air search-and-rescue capabilities by investing S$8.4 million in new satellite technology, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said yesterday.
To be fully operational next year, the medium-altitude earth orbit search-and-rescue (Meosar) ground system has access to more satellites, and uses more advanced technologies to enhance position accuracy, compared with the existing low-altitude earth orbit system. This means it helps detect and locate distressed parties quicker than is the case now.
When distress signals from emergency beacons are activated by aircraft, ships or people in distress, they will be received simultaneously by the medium-altitude earth orbit satellites — deployed by the system’s space segment — and relayed back to the ground segment.
At the ground segment, there is a mission control centre and a local user terminal. The terminal is a receiving station that processes the satellite signals and sends the location of the distress signal and signal information to the control centre, which then sorts the information and distributes the alert data to the appropriate rescue coordination centres, other mission control centres, or search-and-rescue point-of-contacts. These parties then follow up on the needed operations.
All mission control centres are connected globally via communication networks to share information in order to facilitate responses to the distress signals. Singapore is responsible for sending emergency messages to search-and-rescue point-of-contacts in countries such as Brunei, Malaysia and Myanmar.
The adoption of the Meosar ground system is an initiative under the Cospas-Sarsat programme, an international humanitarian satellite-based alert programme that provides accurate and timely distress alert and location data — to help search-and-rescue authorities reach people in distress.
Singapore has been an active participant of the Cospas-Sarsat programme since 1991, and is among 40 states formally associated with it.
Mr Andrew Tan, chief executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, said: “In any search-and-rescue mission, time is of the essence. The new Meosar system will allow us to detect and locate the distress party more accurately for the expeditious deployment of assets to save lives.”
