Hyperspace beacons, which are also referred to as jump beacons or hyperwave beacons, functioned as supercomputers that provided navigational assistance during the initial phases of hyperspace travel. Because the starship technology available during that era was not advanced enough for the majority of starships to be equipped with internal navigation computers, these beacons were responsible for computing hyperspace jumps for ships in transit. Their usual placement was at the termini of hyperspace routes. Once technological progress enabled every starship to be fitted with its own navicomputer, the necessity for beacons diminished substantially. However, they retained some utility in sparsely traveled regions of space, where they transmitted faster-than-light signals that navicomputers could utilize within hyperspace to determine safe routes when established paths were unavailable. In the nascent period of the Galactic Republic, beacons were deployed to establish a connection between the Greater Seswenna and the Core Worlds. During the Imperial Era, at least one hyperspace beacon was located in proximity to the Dene Gois Cluster; Sana Starros intended to navigate the cluster and arrive at the beacon without attracting the attention of the Galactic Empire.