SUCCESSFUL SHOW IN GENEVA

Last week the most important event concerning the ATM and ATC world took place in Geneva: AIRSPACE WORLD. This was the debut edition, the very first time such an event takes place in Switzerland under the organisation of CANSO. Before Airspace World, a similar initiative has been held in Madrid for nine editions, with the name World ATM Congress.

Airspace World (https://airspaceworld.com) is the world’s largest international Air Traffic Control and Air Traffic Management (ATC/ATM) exhibition, attracting industry market leaders and Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) from all around the globe. Product developers, experts and end users gather for three days to share information on the latest products and achievements.

This is the right place where the various stakeholders meet and make things happen. It is a very important event, where SITTI has the opportunity to show its latest developments in these fields and to meet the interest of many customers, both those that are new to us and those who have been knowing us since long.

The participation at this event is the natural prosecution of the continued presence of SITTI at the major exhibitions on ATC/ATM since decades. Following its vocation and commitment to show its Innovative Products to the international audience, SITTI once more demonstrated its capability of always being at the forefront of innovation, technology, capability and expertise for an integrated management of data and voice.

Voice Communication Systems (VCS), ED137 recorders (VRS), VoIP gateways, integrated information solutions, consoles, tower solutions are the main products developed by SITTI to provide customers with a comprehensive solution to their needs.

SITTI IN AZERBAIJAN

SITTI  provided installation, configuration, setting to work, integration, commissioning and onsite training for a MULTIFONO® M800IP® Voice Communication System (VCS) including a number of Controller Working Positions (CWP) with Radio, Telephone and Intercom facilities in Azerbaijan.

This system was  destined for  Zangilan International Airport, thus improving the capability of the local air traffic control authorities to manage the aircrafts flows over the country. The M800IP® VCS provided by SITTI is intended to interface both analogue telephones and VHF/UHF radios, by also allowing controllers to share information and access remote radios according to their needs.

In addition, a Voice Recording System (VRS) will provide legal recording functions for a significant number of VoIP (Voice over IP) streams and analogue channels.

The SITTI’s VCS being supplied to Azerbaijan has been designed to be natively compliant to the EUROCAE ED137 standard requirements. This latter is an internationally consolidated standard that defines the way VoIP shall be used in the ATM/ATC fields. SITTI is proud of having been a true pioneer in the development and deployment of such VoIP systems worldwide.

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.

SITTI VCS FOR MALPENSA FIREFIGHTERS

Many different emergency situations may occur at airports. Most of them involve aircrafts having problems in landing, taxiing, maneuvering, taking off require the intervention of specialized and qualified teams to tackle the issue and solve it, trying to minimize the overall effects of the abnormal situation, with special attention to human lives. This is the main task of the firefighting staff operating at the airports.

They are constantly monitoring all radio frequencies used for airport services, including ground and air traffic control, to be able to immediately react in case of any real or potential risk. Besides them, other radio frequencies are listened to, to receive indications and orders from the area and regional firefighters commands. Telephone connections to all other emergency services inside and outside the airport are used to coordinate possible interventions.

Since end of last December, 2022, SITTI completed the setup of a new MULTIFONO® M800IP® system at the Malpensa firefighters tower, thus allowing operators to benefit of all the modern features provided by this new VOIP-based system. In particular, radio and telephone connections of different kinds (e.g. both analogue and VOIP) are seamlessly integrated to give operative staff immediate, efficient, quick access to all communication features.

The installation and setup of the new system has been carried out by SITTI specialised personnel, that has been coordinated by SEA, the airport managing company, and supported by the local firefighter station, to guarantee a smooth transition from the previous system based on TDM technology to the new VOIP one.

The extremely good relationship between firefighting brigades all over the National territory and SITTI, permits this vital emergency service to take full advantage of the constant research and development activities carried out by SITTI and to get full support in case of any possible issue or expansion request that can arise from the field.

SITTI AT AIRSPACE WORLD 2023

AIRSPACE WORLD is the world’s largest international Air Traffic Control and Air Traffic Management (ATC/ATM) exhibition, taking place in Geneva from 8th to 10th March. This unique venue is attracting industry market leaders and Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) from all around the globe. Product developers, experts and end users gather for three days to share the latest products and achievements.

The participation at AIRSPACE WORLD is the natural prosecution of the continuous presence of SITTI at the major exhibitions on ATC/ATM that have taken place in the past. Last year a similar event (called World ATM Congress) too place in Madrid in the second half of June.

This is the right place where Air Traffic Control stakeholders meet and make things happen. It is a very important event, where SITTI has the opportunity to show its latest developments in this field and to meet the interest of many customers, both those that are new to us and those who have been knowing us since long.

Following its vocation and commitment to present its Innovative Products to the international audience, SITTI will be participating in this first edition of the Airspace World exhibition (https://airspaceworld.com). New ideas and product concepts will be shown, with special and particular attention to Integrated Solutions, combining data and voice.

Voice Communication Systems (VCS), VoIP gateways, recorders, integrated information solutions, consoles are the main products developed by SITTI to provide customers with a comprehensive solution to their needs.

Come and visit us at booth G17.

WIDE SYSTEM COVERAGE OF TANZANIA BY SITTI

In collaboration with JOTRON, SITTI has been ordered the supply of a large number of Voice Communication Systems (VCS) for the upgrade of the air traffic control infrastructure of Tanzania. These systems will cover all major international airports, plus a number of regional ones, thus allowing the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) to proactively manage all inbound and outbound flights, based on the ultimate technology available on the market.

The order placed to SITTI includes 11 MULTIFONO® M800IP® voice communication systems to be deployed all over the country, in cities like Dodoma (the capital), Mwanza, Aakia, Songwe, Mtwara, Pemba, Arusha, Tanga, Kigoma, Tabora. In addition, the current SITTI’s systems at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in Dar-es-Salaam and at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) will be upgraded in order to interface the new network architecture. All the 13 systems will now be interconnected among them and with all the JOTRON radios spread over the territory of Tanzania.

All systems are equipped with the capability of interfacing standard EUROCAE ED137-compliant radio links and telephone lines, but also analogue and digital connections. All these different communication technologies are natively managed by SITTI systems, providing final users with a comprehensive environment, where they are seamlessly integrated. ATCOs (Air Traffic Control Officers) is given access to radio, telephone, intercom lines through modern touch screen panels, which are fully and freely configurable according to TCAA needs, national directives and operational scenarios.

The above mentioned VCS systems allow a significant number of ATCOs to interface all communication links. A total of 75 new controller working positions (CWPs) will be added to the ATC global TCAA infrastructure, thus making TCAA one of the best equipped ANSP (Air Navigation Service Provider) in the world. This will contribute to a safer management of aircrafts all over the Nation, already fit for a global scenario where the air traffic is expected to be significantly increasing in the next decades.

SITTI AND SESAR VIRTUAL CENTRE EXERCISES

On November 11, 2022, ENAV (the Italian ANSP) (Air Navigation Service Provider) organized an Open Day for celebrating the conclusion of the campaign aimed at validating the Virtual Centre Architectures in the frame of SESAR 2020 W2.

The execution of the various exercises validated the concept of “Delegation of ATM services provision among ATSUs”, together with contingency use cases. For the purpose of the campaign, one ADSP (ATM Data Service Provider) and two ATSUs (ATM Service Units) were involved in a simulated environment, focusing on the coordination between Rome and Brindisi ACCs (Area Control Centres), also including Civil-Military operations.

The exercises were carried out at ENAV National Test Facility in Rome using COFLIGHT Cloud Services (CCS), LEONARDO radar stations and SITTI Voice Communication System (VCS) touchscreens, taking into due consideration the specific requirements to support the service interfaces with the Virtual Centre architectures defined by EUROCAE Working Group 122.

SITTI actively contributed to the success of the planned exercises through a simulated VCS environment. The VCS facility make it possible to ATCOs (air traffic control operators) working at the (simulated) site of Brindisi to interact with their colleagues in Rome and some (simulated) pilots to run all foreseen tests and positively terminate the validation campaign. The following operational use cases have been addressed from an operational perspective at different traffic load conditions:

  • Delegation of ATM services provision at night
  • Delegation of ATM services provision at fixed time
  • Delegation of ATM services provision on-demand
  • Delegation of ATM services provision between Civil and Military ATSUs

The SITTI system showed its native flexibility, by allowing the definition of many different independent operational scenarios, through which all communication aspects involved in the delegation process could be successfully assessed.

YANGON SIMULATOR BY SITTI

Myanmar (former Burma) is a strategic country for aircrafts flying between Europe and the Far East and Australia. The modernization of the local infrastructures already saw SITTI in the forefront with the supply of a MULTIFONO® M800IP® Voice Communication System (VCS) to the Air Control Centre (ACC) in Yangon, the capital city (as witnessed here: https://www.sitti.it/sitti-for-the-far-east).

About a year later, another VCS has been delivered to the same premises (please read here: https://www.sitti.it/simulation-in-myanmar-by-sitti), this time for simulation purposes at ACC level. Simulation systems are of fundamental importance to allow controllers to get acquainted with the system they will be using in their daily work. Through them, it is also possible to simulate abnormal conditions that may jeopardize the ordinary Air Traffic Management, thus increasing the situational awareness of the operators.

Through the SAMART Group, a Thai company very active in the region and that already proposed our products for their high reliability, SITTI has been asked to provide a further step in the local air traffic control environment, by supplying another simulation system, this time to the Civil Aviation Training Institute (CATI) under the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) for training both controllers and aviation students.

The VCS that will be installed for simulation purposes belongs to the same MULTIFONO® family and therefore it inherits the same levels of capability and reliability. More specifically, it is a M801IP system equipped with 6 controller working positions (CWP) and a communications dispatching server, also used for configuration purposes.

The combined presence of systems all developed by SITTI, primary VCS manufacturer and supplier worldwide, ensures the customer that all his needs are properly addressed through top edge solutions, both in the Civil and Military fields. The leading edge, redundant, non-blocking architecture of the MULTIFONO® Voice Communication Systems provide flexibility and modularity for easy expansion and addition of further functionalities.

SITTI MAINTENANCE IN BRAZIL

SITTI systems are designed to work without interruption for tens of years, thus guaranteeing customers extremely high reliability figures. This is one of the things SITTI is particularly proud of, because it gives clients the perception of a stable and always available system, which he can rely upon. Of course this also increases the positive reputation of SITTI far beyond South America.

As said above, SITTI VCS (Voice Communication System) systems are very reliable, so that unit replacement and fault repair activities are quite infrequent. The major CINDACTA Air Traffic Control centres in Brazil (Brasilia, Curitiba, Recife and Manaus) are under a maintenance contract with SITTI that provides technical, functional and system assistance to cope with any possible degradation or disruption.

The current maintenance contract envisages the physical presence of a SITTI engineer at each control centre during working hours 5 days a week, accompanied by the constant 24/7 availability on call in case of any urgency. Should anything serious occur that cannot be solved over the phone, a qualified engineer is guaranteed to be on site within 60 minutes.

Programmed maintenance activities are scheduled to be executed daily, weekly or monthly, according to the system parts to be supervised. Every month, a written report is prepared and handed over to the customers, listing all activities carried out and their outcome.

The current maintenance contract also includes the same kind of service for the CRCEA-SE centre in Sao Paulo and the APP military and civil control centre responsible for the Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro areas. In addition, an annual similar maintenance program applies to the other about 30 DTCEA centres providing APP and TWR service, with constant helpdesk contacts and on site intervention within 24 hours in case of blocking problems.

SITTI SYSTEMS IN EARTHQUAKE CONDITIONS

On November 9, 2022, at 6:20 am, an earthquake hit the Adriatic coast, near the cities of Pesaro and Ancona, Central Italy. The earthquake magnitude was not devastating, however it understandably created apprehension in the population that felt its tremors and was scared of possible serious consequences that, thanks God, did not occur.

On that day, the local fire brigades received about 1000 calls asking for help and requests of site inspections for making sure infrastructures and buildings and houses were safe to use, work or live in. The Pesaro operative room is equipped with SITTI MULTIFONO® M800IP® voice communication system (VCS) with 3 VoIP (voice over IP) operator working positions that were able to cope with all incoming calls and properly dispatch orders to the fire brigades patrols on the territory.

The VCS system has been under stress for many hours, representing the focal point for the communications between the operative command and the firefighters operating in the area. The reliability and continuous availability of the system, its capability of queuing calls and properly connecting operators, allowed it to provide an excellent service, so that all emergency calls have been duly managed and processed, even during the following days when more than 2000 further calls have been received for the same reasons.

The operative and control room in Ancona thanked SITTI for the unparalleled good quality of the system they have been using. His words are the best advertisement for our products. “This further encourages us to enhance and improve our products” – Mr. Federico Di Guida, head of SITTI maintenance department said – “to continue providing our customer with top-edge systems and services.

SITTI IN HONDURAS

COCESNA (Corporación Centroamericana de Servicios de Navegación Aérea) is undergoing a project for the modernization and extension of the air traffic control capacity and features in Central America. In the frame of this project, there’s the need for a new VCS (Voice Communication System) system for the ACC (Area Control Centre) in Tegucigalpa Honduras. The VCS  will be installed in the CENAMER ACC of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.

COCESNA awarded SITTI the relevant contract for the supply of the VCS system. The new system belongs to the SYNCRONIS® MULTIFONO® M800IP® family that  hasproven its reliability and flexibility in many other installations all over the world, particularly in America.

The VCS system includes 15 touchscreen CWPs (Controller Working Positions) through which ATCOs (Air Traffic Controller Operators) can seamlessly access the radio and telephone communications features provided by the VCS, regardless of whether they are analogue, digital or VoIP (Voice Over IP). All protocol conversions are completely transparent to the user.

A large number of VoIP radios (57), analogue telephone circuits (36), IP telephone channels (10) and the CWPs are fully integrated to provide controllers the fastest possible and most reliable access to the respective links and lines. All this features, coupled with the native flexibility and expandability of the system, heavily contributes to make their work easier and more comfortable,  making the skies safer.

SITTI is a primary VCS manufacturer and supplier worldwide, capable of giving prompt and topedge solution answers to Customer needs, both in the Civil and Military fields. The leading edge, redundant, non-blocking architecture of the SYNCRONIS® MULTIFONO® M800IP® provides flexibility and modularity for easy expansion and addition of further functionalities.