Categoria: News

Grazzanise air base is a military airport in Southern Italy hosting the 9th Wing SAR operations.

SITTI and LEONARDO have been tasked by Aeronautica Militare (the Italian Air Force) to upgrade the local communication infrastructure. This includes G/G (ground/ground) and A/G (air/ground) systems, for which SITTI will be providing its state-of-the-art products, thus allowing enhanced and more secure communications between ground controllers, pilots and other air traffic management services.

The server-based VCS (Voice Communication System) to be deployed at Grazzanise belongs to the renowned MULTIFONO® M800IP® family that has already been installed at many other military bases, as well as civil airports and ACCs (Area Control Centres) throughout Italy. The VCS system will be complemented by VoIP (Voice over IP) GVS gateways, capable of converting digital and analogue existing protocols to/from standard IP, according to the world-famous ED-137 standard.

In addition to that, Multifunctional MTF800 terminals will also be installed, allowing ATCOs to increase their situational awareness thanks to the concentration of different information sources on a limited number of display devices in a smooth and integrated way. Data and audio are recorded by means of a VRS800S standard and legal recorder, where information is time-stamped and stored for later playback via the replay system, also provided by SITTI.

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

ENAV, the Italian Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), is undergoing a restructuration of its ACC (Area Control Centre) in Ciampino, near Rome. The ACC in Rome is responsible for the management and control of the air traffic flows over the Centre and South of Italy and its main islands.

To allow a smoother and more effective provision of its services, ENAV will expand the current layout of the operational room where ATCOs (Air Traffic Control Operators) are working from. This latter is currently organized in 4 so-called “isles”, grouping ATCOs according to the sectors and areas they have responsibility for. A new “isle E” is going to be added to the existing ones.

The planned expansion of the ACC impacts the systems that are already in place, requiring the update of the main and emergency VCS’s (Voice Communication System), the installation of new legal recorders and the reconfiguration of the operations room to cope with the new “isle”.

SITTI will therefore provide all required equipment and VCS panels to increase the capacity of the current M800IP VoIP and M800 TDM systems (main and emergency, respectively), with about 50 new CWPs (Controller Working Positions). In addition, new VRS800S recorders for the primary and backup systems will be installed, sized to accommodate also ambient recording in the future, fully compliant to the latest standards defined by EUROCAE and EUROCONTROL. More than 450 VoIP sources and about 50 analogue ones will be seamlessly interfaced by the M800IP system. Live operations of “isle E” are planned to start by mid 2026.

LVC (Live, Virtual, Constructive) is a widespread term for defining modelling and simulation methods used to train pilots and ground controllers to enhance their combat readiness and situational awareness. Ordinary live flights are essential to military pilots to get acquainted with their airplanes and weapon systems, but these exercises are limited by several factors, like the number of aircraft that can be used, the available airspace, the impossibility of launching real missiles against targets.

LVC allows simultaneous usage of both real systems and virtual ones, so that e.g. enemy targets can be simulated and counter measures can be applied when attacked. The airspace is virtually enlarged and the number of flying objects (both friends and foes) is increased, thus providing pilots and controllers with a much more realistic training environment where the effect of the engagement with the enemy and any battle damage can be evaluated.

The Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) is also applying these LVC concepts for the training of its pilots and controllers. For LVC purposes, communication is of fundamental importance. Therefore, at each C2 centre, SITTI will be supplying a Voice Communication System (VCS) to allow bidirectional connection between live and virtual environments to interface real and virtual radios.

This special application of the MULTIFONO® M800IP® VCS system will also require some interface adaptations and enhancements to allow ground controllers and pilots to seamlessly interact in the frame of the training exercises that aim at educating all involved military staff to reach the highest level of preparation.

Sigonella is a military base located in Sicily, jointly used by the Italian and US Air Force. The base is about to undergo a modernisation process that includes the complete restructuring of the APP (Approach) facilities. SITTI is here upgrading the voice management infrastructure.

SITTI will provide the Sigonella base with a Voice Communication System (VCS) belonging the standard-compliant MULTIFONO® M800IP® family and an integrated Voice Recording & Replay System (VRS). This latter allows recording of the audio of all channels available to the controllers (and related signalling) plus their radar screens in a synchronised manner.

Meantime the APP building is restructured, APP and main radar services will be provided by a sheltered temporary facility connected to the global IP network, where controllers have access to all communication features needed for accomplishing their tasks. New controller working positions (CWP) are also part of the supply.

SITTI systems are well suited for civil as well as military usage, wherever safe, efficient, reliable communication is required, thus confirming SITTI as a one-stop supplier for Air Traffic Control needs.

The convergence of voice and data into one multimedia network is nowadays a consolidated reality, based on IP networks and related technology that fulfil all operational and technical ATM communication requirements. Analogue connections are therefore on their way to be phased out by ANSPs and replaced by VoIP (Voice over IP) links.

The work commissioned by ENAV for the ACC in Padua follows this general worldwide trend. Existing analogue MFC connections that have been successfully used for decades to interconnect remote centres are now to be upgraded to standard VoIP links using the renowned ED137 standard developed by EUROCAE. This standard is being deployed all over the globe, wherever standard ATM/ATC voice communication is concerned, although its importance is extending to other application fields as well, for safe, secure, standard, reliable voice communications.

The VCS (Voice Communication System) by SITTI installed at Padua ACC has therefore been upgraded by removing the old fashioned MFC analogue interface boards with new standard-compliant VoIP boards ensuring technologically advanced connections to Vienna (AustroControl) in redundant configuration.

The new standard VoIP connection between Padua and Vienna has been thoroughly tested according to the provisions of the ED137 standard. All tests passed positively, thus proving the conformance of ENAV systems to the top-edge achievements in the ATM/ATC field, confirming ENAV as one of the most technologically advanced ANSPs in the world.