FTL - beacons

With the expected boom in Space travel,
To minimise the danger of collisions of
FtL drive vessels will make use of this "lighthouse network" consisting of fixed-position beacons. This prevents space vessels crashing into each other and also it prevents accidental collisions between FTL drive vessels and interplanetary objects.
These are only used in The Culture's borders.

The Beacons record local space data, which are then downloaded by spacecraft. Each beacon is a supercomputer in space that keeps up to date accurate data on routes to a limited number of other beacons, providing practical safe limitations on Faster than light journeys in both distance and direction.The local network in The Culture's home system has been fitted with many as twenty jump beacons, with an individual beacon transmitting astrogational information to a ship , the rest of the network which relays it onwards to other beacons and then to other vessels.

The beacons are maintained and patrolled by the Culture's Spacelane Bureau. Reliability of available data is only about 80%. Beacons are moored in open space between planetary systems to avoid the effects of gravitational forces on them.

The beacons are capable of storing millions of potential routes .Some routes are restricted (e.g., military or political) navigational data.
The routes are being used to speed up trade routes and military response times in the home systems. The beacons have also been made secure from external tampering.
By use of encrypted computer software and anti tampering devices.