A Distress Alarm Keyer

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has proposed a Satellite-Aided Search and Rescue system concept. In the event of an emergency a distress message can be transmitted to the Search and Rescue Center via a satellite. The distress message can be entered and stored in a Distress Alarm Keyer in binary-coded-decimal format. The Distress Alarm Keyer has been designed and implemented using Intel's Mcs-48 microcomputer family. The flexibility of the microprocessor-based design of the Keyer allows the expansion of its functions without any major modifications. A comparison has been made between the present software design and the hard-wired version of the Distress Alarm Keyer which was developed in 1976.