Small mercies

摘要

French life-saving appliance (LSA) manufacturer Syrlinks claims to have launched the world's smallest emergency AIS beacon, in a bid to promote a culture of greater safety awareness within the boating sector.Primarily aimed at crew and passengers aboard coastal boats and vessels navigating on inland waterways - and including yachts, recreational craft and non-commercial boats - the miniature My-AIS device is intended to provide a lightweight and simple alternative to larger, cumbersome AlS-man overboard (MOB) beacons. And, despite the unit's small size, Syrlinks would appear to have good form when it comes to developing workable solutions for use in hostile environments: the company delivered the communication links for the space robot Philae, which famously landed on the Tchoury comet in November 2014 as part of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission.