WordNet
n. a device that, on receiving radar signals, transmits coded signals in response to help navigators determine their position [syn: racon]
Wikipedia
Radar beacon (short: racon) is – according to article 1.103 of the International Telecommunication Union´s (ITU) ITU Radio Regulations (RR) – defined as "A transmitter-receiver associated with a fixed navigational mark which, when triggered by a radar, automatically returns a distinctive signal which can appear on the display of the triggering radar, providing range, bearing and identification information." Each station (transmitter-receiver, radar) shall be classified by the service in which it operates permanently or temporarily.
Usage examples of "radar beacon".
Two pilots had to know where we were building, but they homed in on a radar beacon that is no longer there.
Captain Stone speeded up his ship to match in by a series of blasts during the last two days, coming by a radar beacon deep in the swarm and thereby sneaking up on the collection of floating masses at a low relative speed.
Light 'beacon' means a visible light to her just as 'radar beacon' means to her a navigational radar beacon.
Doctrine required me to locate exactly, by radar beacon, my own men who could be affected by the blast.