Marker beacon

A marker beacon is a particular type of VHF radio beacon used in aviation, usually in conjunction with an instrument landing system (ILS), to give pilots a means to determine position along an established route to a destination such as a runway.

According to Article 1.107 of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) ITU Radio Regulations (RR) a marker beacon is defined as "a transmitter in the aeronautical radionavigation service which radiates vertically a distinctive pattern for providing position information to aircraft".

History

From the 1930s until the 1950s, markers were used extensively along airways to provide an indication of an aircraft's specific position along the route, but from the 1960s they have become increasingly limited to ILS approach installations. They are now very gradually being phased out of service, especially in more developed parts of the world, as GPS and other technologies have made marker beacons increasingly redundant.

Types

There are three types of marker beacons that may be installed as part of their most common application—an instrument landing system.

Outer marker

The outer marker, which normally identifies the final approach fix (FAF), is situated on the same course/track as the localizer and the runway center-line, four to seven nautical miles before the runway threshold. It is typically located about 1 NM (1.85 km) inside the point where the glideslope intercepts the intermediate altitude and transmits a 400 Hz tone signal on a low-powered (3 watts), 75 MHz carrier signal. Its antenna is highly directional, and is pointed straight up. The valid signal area is a 2,400 ft (730 m) × 4,200 ft (1,280 m) ellipse (as measured 1,000 ft (300 m) above the antenna.) When the aircraft passes over the outer marker antenna, its marker beacon receiver detects the signal. The system gives the pilot a visual (blinking blue outer marker light) and aural (continuous series of audio tone morse code-like 'dashes') indication.