ABSTRACT: Currently the security of a ship would be reduced if among its systems don't have some able to indicate its position, providing the necessary data to try that the Rescue System begin a rescue in the event of emergency or catastrophe. Formerly the localization of a ship was based on warnings transmitted by the sailors or automatic systems. The efficiency of these systems was demonstrated in the rescue services and salvage of human lives obtained along more than a century. Since final of the last century the marine transport introduced a new aid system, the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS), based in the automatic alarms through communications for satellites and the radiobeacons use that transmit data that help to the lo-calization of a ship. In this work is sought to characterize some of the systems of satellites more diffused for the localization of aid signs (INMARSAT, COSPAS-SARSAT), adding the project IRIDIUM for improvement of the search and rescue, by means of the surveillance from satellites in orbit. A comparison will be established among these systems, taking parameters like: global covering, emission of false alarms, portability and economic cost, with the objective of determining the most effective system in case of catastrophes.

KEYWORDS: Search and Rescue (SAR), INMARSAT, COSPAS-SARSAT, Rescue System, IRIDIUM, SAR Operation, Satellite System, Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)

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