Other Uses
Beacons and bonfires are also used to mark occasions and celebrate events. In Israel beacons identify the beginning of the month.
Beacons have also allegedly been abused by shipwreckers. An illicit fire at a wrong position would be used to direct a ship against shoals or beaches, so that its cargo could be looted after the ship sank or ran aground. There are, however, no historically substantiated occurrences of such intentional shipwrecking.
In wireless networks, a beacon is a type of frame which is sent by the access point (or wifi router),to indicate that is on.
In the fiction book The Lord of the Rings, a series of beacons connects Gondor to Rhohan. When they are lit, it is a way for one to call for military aid from the other, as per its historical use in medieval Europe.
Read more about this topic: Beacon