homing beacon
Electronic tracking transmitter
A homing beacon is a radio transmitter that emits a signal allowing receivers to locate it or navigate toward it.
Aircraft use homing beacons to find runways; ships use them to locate ports.
In fiction, spies plant homing beacons on vehicles to track them.
The term extends to anything that draws things toward it: The kitchen became a homing beacon for hungry teenagers.
- signalMessage-conveying cue
- radio signalBroadcast electromagnetic wave
- trackingMonitoring location over time
- tracking deviceTool revealing location
- GPSSatellite-based location technology
locator · transmitter · ping · rescue · search and rescue · lighthouse · safe harbor · pulse · navigation · flight path · control tower · radar · distress · bat signal · frequency · satellite · emergency · lost
- aviation navigationDME, waypoint, localizer, glide slope, GPS
- radio beaconsELT
- distress signalsdistress signal, distress flare, signal flare, flare, flare gun
- Star Wars techlightsaber, Death Star, blaster, hyperdrive, droid
- guidance systemsgyroscope, accelerometer, GPS guidance, magnetometer, flight computer
homing beaconrepellent
Causes strong aversion
decoy · deterrent · warning signal · repulsor
homing beaconcloaking device
Apparatus enabling invisibility
signal jammer · stealth technology · scrambler · radio silence · invisibility cloak
homing beaconfalse signal
Intentionally misleading communication
wild goose chase · red herring · labyrinth · decoy · jammer
homing, beacon, home, homes, homed, homer, homers, homely, homeless