Illumination beacon

An illumination beacon comprising:

• a housing;
• a mounting member supported within the housing;
• a light source supported by the mounting member and oriented to project a non-visible light external to the housing;
• a controller received within the housing and operably coupled to the light source, the controller configured to activate the light source in one of a plurality of flashing modes;
• a battery received within the housing and operably coupled to the light source;
• a mode select interface operably coupled to the controller, the controller configured to select a flashing mode of the light source in response to input to the mode select interface;
• an external trigger system operably coupled to the controller, the controller configured to activate the light source in response to input to the external trigger system;
• and
• a status indicator operably coupled to the controller and configured to project a visible light external to the housing in response to input to at least one of the mode select interface and the external trigger system.

An illumination beacon comprising:

• a housing including an outer wall with a center plane defined by a circle, the housing further including a transparent top surface and a transparent bottom surface;
• an upper mounting member supported within the housing intermediate the transparent top surface and the transparent bottom surface;
• a lower mounting member supported within the housing intermediate the upper mounting member and the transparent bottom surface;
• an upper light source supported by the upper mounting member and oriented to project light upwardly through the transparent top surface;
• a lower light source supported by the lower mounting member and oriented to project light downwardly through the transparent bottom surface;
• a controller received within the housing and operably coupled to the upper and lower light sources, the controller configured to control operation of the upper and lower light sources in a flashing manner;
• a battery holder positioned intermediate the upper mounting member and the lower mounting member, the battery holder including a positive terminal and a negative terminal;
• a coin cell battery removably received within the battery holder for electrical communication with the positive terminal and the negative terminal for providing power to the upper and lower light sources;
• and
• wherein the housing has an outer diameter of no greater than 1 inch.

A method of providing a light signal, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a housing, a light source within the housing, and a status indicator within the housing;
• providing an input to a mode select interface;
• illuminating the status indicator to project a visible light external to the housing;
• illuminating the light source to project a non-visible light external to the housing in one of a plurality of different flashing patterns based upon the input to the mode select interface;
• supplying power to the status indicator and the light source from a battery;
• and
• generating voltage signals, storing energy from the battery in an energy storage device in response to a first voltage signal;
• and supplying energy from the energy storage device to the status indicator and the light source in response to a second voltage signal.