Mese: Novembre 2019

According to the plans agreed with the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare – AM), SITTI completed the installation of the devices ordered aiming at the reinforcement of the coverage and control of the Southern Italian air space. The Trapani air base is already equipped with a standard MULTIFONO® M800IP® Voice Communication System (VCS) for which the need of an expansion had been identified by the military authorities to better supervise the area (look here) .

The Squadron Operative Room (SOR) has been equipped with new recording features for both A/G and G/G communications (Air/Ground) (Ground/Ground). The supplied client/server recording system is capable of storing long term information and events logging, thus allowing air traffic controllers to access and reproduce all conversations of interest. The interface to the existing MULTIFONO® VCS is guaranteed thanks to appropriate interface boards, capable of dealing with all communication protocols in use at the base.

The recorded data replay system permits operators to synchronize and have access to both audio and events occurred at the time of recording, so as to allow them to reconstruct the exact sequence of operations that took place. This is an important feature, especially for military purposes, in order to be able to help identifying possible targets and correcting error or providing alternative flight routes.

SITTI is a primary VCS manufacturer and supplier worldwide, capable of giving prompt and top edge solutions to Customer needs, both in the Civilian and Military fields. The leading edge, redundant, non-blocking architecture of the MULTIFONO® M800IP® provides flexibility and modularity for easy expansion and addition of further functionalities, conformant to the ED 137 standard.

The Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare – AM) is often exercising its operative capacity to be ready at any moment in time to intervene where peace-keeping activities are required or when emergency situations occur. In these scenarios, deployable Voice Communication Systems (VCS) play an utmost important role, because they allow rapid and effective access to operational awareness and air control. The use of deployable systems becomes even more important in possibly hostile theaters, when Italy is involved in operations outside the national borders – abbreviated as OFCN (Operazioni Fuori dai Confini Nazionali).

The deployable systems provided by SITTI have been designed to guarantee the air force an extremely high level of reliability and expandability. These systems belong to the MULTIFONO® M800IP® family which is also extensively used in civil applications. Of course, the military usage has additional requirements (such as encryption, meteorological adverse conditions, temperature range, etc.) that are fully satisfied by SITTI systems. The successful experience of similar military systems being operative at various air forces around the globe is the best guarantee that the systems supplied to the Italian air force is the right answer to their special needs.

More specifically, the initial configuration of the supplied system can be easily expanded by simply adding the relevant hardware and configuring the newly added boards, without compromising nor affecting the current operations. Duplication of all network elements ensure the absence of any single point-of-failure that may jeopardize the system usage. Radio connections, telephone links, intercom facilities, legal recording are part of the system itself, so as to provide the air force with all needed resources for a very rapid tactical deployment in any operative scenario.

SITTI is a primary VCS manufacturer and supplier worldwide, capable of giving prompt and top edge solutions to Customer needs, both in the Civilian and Military fields. The leading edge, redundant, non-blocking architecture of the MULTIFONO® M800IP® provides flexibility and modularity for easy expansion and addition of further functionalities, conformant to the ED-137 standard.

SITTI and ENAV signed a Framework Agreement for the provision of operations consoles to be installed in the Air Traffic Control towers.

The consoles have been designed according to innovative requirements from ENAV, with possibility of site customization, by taking into account the available space, the shape of the operations room, the number and type of operative positions to be installed, in order to get to an optimized room layout. The following elements have been taken in high consideration:

• Operative needs relevant to the ATS services in the frame of ENAV NexTower program.
• Optimal integration of systems and equipment allowing complete reconfiguration and integration of the Controller Working Positions (CWP).
• Ergonomic criteria deriving from operative needs.
• Systems maintenance needs.

The new tower consoles have been conceived to minimize the environmental impact. Their main characteristics are:

• The console structure is made of aluminum profiles, resistant to scratches and corrosion, which guarantee a remarkable solidity and a high degree of flexibility and modularity.
• Easily removable panels, thanks to a system of magnets, resistant to scratches and corrosion.
• Electrostatic powder coating to improve the quality of the finish and significantly reduce the environmental impact compared to liquid paints, thus eliminating the problem of solvents.
• Surface in Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) covered with linoleum covered with double UV-ray treatment that prevents stains, scratches and scratches, for long maintaining of the original appearance.

VoIP (Voice over IP) is getting more and more popular in the Air Traffic Management and Control all over the world, especially after the work done by EUROCAE Working Group 67 which has issued the ED-137 standard on the use of VoIP in ATM. EUROCONTROL (the pan-European, civil-military organisation dedicated to supporting European aviation) and EUROCAE (European leader in the development of worldwide recognised industry standards for aviation) worked strictly together to facilitate the introduction of VoIP in Europe and the rest of the world.

About 10 years ago, EUROCONTROL identified the need for the establishment of a dedicated working group to support the introduction of VoIP, by getting contributions from both the ANSPs and the industry. This is the VOTE (VoIP Implementation Support Group), that actively addressed how to gradually migrate from current analogue and digital connection links to more modern VoIP services, based on the ED 137 standard.

The VOTE group gave life to subgroups, dealing with specific aspects related to VoIP. Among these subgroups, the Implementation Guidance Subgroup is devoted to addressing the definition of a common approach to SIP Addressing in ATM VoIP. On October 9, 2019, the first face to face meeting took place in Biarritz, under the chairmanship of Roberto Weger, from SITTI, Italy, with the participation of over 30 representatives of ANSPs and industries from Europe, USA and Canada.

Outcome of the VOTE Implementation Guidance Subgroup is a document aimed at giving guidelines for a uniform assignment of SIP addresses to network resources for use with VoIP in ATM. The work is expected to be completed in the first half of 2020 with the formal approval of the proposed document.

The chairmanship of this subgroup by SITTI testifies the continuous attention of the company to the evolution of the standards and related documents delivered at all levels, with the goal of providing its customers with the most advanced and up-to-date technologies, fully complying with existing regulations and recommendations.