Mese: Novembre 2020

Croatia Control, a state-owned company operating in the Republic of Croatia, providing air navigation services (ANS) is undergoing the expansion of their air traffic control facilities by adding new controller working positions to local towers (TWR) and approach centres (TMA). The project foresees a number of new consoles with special characteristics that deserve special attention in order to meet the requirements set by the customer.

SITTI is not only known worldwide as a primary system supplier and integrator of operational and technical solutions for Air Traffic Control (ATC), thanks to its large offer of reliable high-level technological Voice Communication Systems, but also for the ancillary equipment and Controller Working Position consoles for use in airfield towers and Air Traffic Control Radar and Procedural Centres.

The operator consoles by SITTI are designed taking into consideration the very important and often stressful working conditions of controllers who are tasked with a heavy and responsible workload. Therefore, they must be given the best solutions for an ergonomic and easy-to-use access to all required communication and control facilities (e.g. radars, radios, telephones). In line with these requirements, SITTI consoles are designed with high consideration for comfort- and fatigue-related factors, whilst providing efficient and effective access to equipment and services for long-term daily use.

The new consoles ordered by Croatia Control are intended for the approach centres (TMA) of Pula, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, Osijek and the airfield towers (TWR) of Lučko and Osijek. A total of 20 brand new specially designed consoles will be supplied this year and will become fully operative at the beginning of 2021.

The end user is at the core of SITTI’s interest when it comes to consoles. Design criteria also took into consideration such aspects as the choice of materials, seating adjustment, optimisation of viewing angles and conditions, noise isolation and ventilation, touch and feel aspects, as well as the correct positioning of communication elements (keyboards, connector panels, loudspeaker location, etc.).

The Italian Air Force is undergoing a very significant program of modernization of their Air Traffic Control systems for monitoring the national airspace. This includes the Voice Communication Systems (VCS) that are going to be replaced by brand new MULTIFONO® M800IP® systems manufactured by SITTI.

These new devices will be deployed at the main control centres, airport towers, auxiliary service rooms in order to provide the military air force with all the advanced features made available by the new systems.

These latter fully comply with the latest requirements set by the international EUROCAE ED137 standard that defines the way Voice over IP (VoIP) shall be used in the air traffic management and control fields. The large base of installed systems (both civil and military) in all continents proves the reliability and resilience of SITTI products.

Analogue, digital, VoIP connections are natively supported by the M800IP® VCS by means of interchangeable modules that can be used in different modes, only provided the proper configuration is downloaded by means of the supervision system that is also part of the supply. Remote analogue radios are interfaced to the VCS by means of appropriate gateways that make the use of such radios seamless to the military controllers.

By deploying the new M800IP® systems, the Italian air force is making a big step forward in the modernization process of their infrastructure, by enhancing communications and control over the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Air Traffic Control operations require highly skilled personnel, capable of properly dealing with all situations that may occur in the skies. This is the reason for which appropriate simulators are used, where operational scenarios are tested to instruct operators to correctly cope with possibly difficult and demanding situations. This is particularly important when air traffic controllers have to manage military aircrafts and their missions.

In this perspective, the Italian air force has been requesting new equipment for the radar and air defence simulator they are using to train their controllers. More precisely, the target is the enhancement of the communications systems between different systems in the Italian peninsula by realizing an integrated system capable of dealing with all types of air/ground and ground/ground communications for towers, approach centres and air defence.

SITTI is therefore about to deliver two new MULTIFONO® M800IP® systems to the Italian air force for simulation purposes. These include about 30 controller working positions (CWP), all equipped with last-generation touch-screen panel with integrated advanced features, specifically thought of to respond to the special needs of a military force.

The MULTIFONO® M800IP Voice Communication System (VCS) is equipped with the capability of simulating any kind of radio and telephone interface, thus allowing instructors to train controllers in the best possible way, as if they were living a real air traffic control experience. This significantly contributes to increase their situational awareness which will lead to a higher level of flight safety and reliable communications.

SITTI is a primary VCS manufacturer and supplier worldwide, capable of giving prompt and top edge solution answers 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.