The nation can soon begin using a facility in Pingtung City for maritime rescue missions after it was certified by the International Cospas-Sarsat Programme (ICSP) last week, the Maritime Port Bureau said.
The program is a satellite-aided search and rescue initiative in which 45 nations and non-profit agencies are participating.
The facility — a local user terminal that receives data from medium Earth orbit satellites — passed a review by the Cospas-Sarsat Council during its meeting from Tuesday to Friday last week in Montreal, the bureau said.
The nation has been participating in the ICSP under the name “International Telecommunication Development Corp” since 1992, the bureau said, adding that the facility was built to maintain normal operations of the nation’s satellite-assisted rescue system and to help establish a mechanism to work with other rescue agencies around the world.
Taiwan already has a low Earth orbit local user terminal in Keelung, but the medium Earth orbit terminal requires more antennae and other peripheral equipment, which called for a larger space, it said.
The bureau chose Pingtung County’s Dapingding (大平頂) area in Checheng Township (車城) to house the new terminal, which was completed at the end of last year and has been undergoing tests.
The tests have shown that the terminal can receive beacons from ships and locate them within 10 minutes, with a margin of error of about 5km, the bureau said, adding that the time could be reduced to five minutes if new beacons are used.
The terminal has a range of 8,000km, it added.
The low Earth orbit terminal takes 90 minutes to receive beacons, the bureau said.
However, the nation cannot start using the new terminal until the ICSP examines and tests the operations of the Taipei Mission Control Center, it said.
The control center is within the West Pacific Data Distribution Region, whose node is the Japan Mission Control Center, the bureau said.
The tests require a connection between the Taiwanese and Japanese control centers, but Japan does not plan to submit any test plans until next year, it said.
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