Dukane Seacom ULBs have aided in the recovery of multiple aircraft and marine incidents.
Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) devices must reliably function in extreme environments. Each Dukane Seacom beacon is rigorously tested at our Sarasota, Florida manufacturing facility in our underwater dynamics laboratory. Each device’s output is profiled to make sure it is compliant with all industry specifications.
With over 100,000 in-service units, Dukane Seacom is the unmatched market leader in underwater locator beacons for the aviation market segment. Dukane Seacom ULBs are the industry standard and are installed on every commercial air transport, regional, and business aviation aircraft flying modern flight and data recorders. Dukane Seacom ULBs are also standard equipment on military fixed wing, rotary wing aircraft flying voice, and data recorders. Dukane Seacom beacons are essentially the standard equipment for every major aviation and military black box manufacturer.
Keeping with an aircraft underwater acoustic beacon legacy, Dukane Seacom is also a leading ULB supplier for Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) application.
Like black boxes carried on aircrafts, VDR is a data recording system designed for all vessels required to comply with the IMO’s International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Requirements (IMO Res.A.861(20)) in order to collect data from various sensors on board the vessel. If the ship sinks in a marine accident, the data stored in the VDR unit can be recovered by the authorities or ship owners for incident investigation.
The DKM502 (30 day operational life) and DKM502/90 (90 days operational life as per new IMO standard) ULBs are:
- BSH Certified and designed to perform under adverse marine environments
- Reliable due to usage of corrosion resistant hardware, and
- Epoxy and black anodized finish as per MIL-A-8524F
Their purpose is to provide for underwater relocation of marine voyage data recorders to insure the recovery of the memory module at sea to depth of 6000 meters (20,000 ft).
The DK120/90 was the first ULB certified to the new 90-day operating life requirement. This beacon provides a minimum of 90-day underwater operating life; and is certified to TSO-C121b & TSO-C142a and ESO ETSO-C121b & ETSO-C142a.
Dukane Seacom also manufactures the low frequency, airframe mounted DK180 series beacon. The Dukane-Seacom DK180 is designed and qualified to meet the newly developed standards FAA TSO-C200 / ETSO-C200 dated 6/26/2012 as per SAE–AS6254 & ARINC 667.
For applications not requiring compliance to the 90-day operating requirement, the DK120/90 and DK140 (short) are still available. The design conforms to all of the environmental requirements and is guaranteed to operate for 30 days, but they are no longer certified under TSO-C121.