Development of an Enhanced Emergency Locator Transmitter for General Aviation

This paper describes the development of an Enhanced Emergency Locator Transmitter (E²LT) for general aviation craft. The E²LT will supplement existing Emergency Locator Transmitter systems which broadcast a simple radio beacon in the event of an aircraft crash. Unlike existing devices, however, the E²LT device will transmit the crash site location and crash severity directly to Emergency Response Teams. The paper describes the design, development, and testing of an advanced emergency location system that combines inexpensive crash sensors, Web-enabled wireless communications and Global Positioning Systems to transmit crash site location to an Emergency Base Station. The purpose of the system is not only to shorten the time it takes for authorities to respond to the crash site, but to improve the quality of the response.