Categoria: Europe

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.

The cooperation between civil and military air traffic controllers is of fundamental importance for ensuring safe and coordinated management of flights. The Italian ACCs (Area Control Centres) therefore also include controller positions that are run by military staff, thus having the strictly interact with operators dealing with civil aircraft.

ENAV, the Italian civil ANSP, have planned to move the management of airspace sectors from Brindisi to Rome-Ciampino as part of their industrial investment plan. This implies the need to also move the control of military sectors accordingly and to guarantee, without interruption and without jeopardizing the current capacity in terms of movements per hour, the provision of Air Traffic Control services.

SITTI has been therefore asked to develop a transition plan that will allow the mentioned move of the responsibility of airspace sector BRN (North Brindisi Area) from Brindisi to Ciampino, without compromising the current SCC/AM (Servizi Coordinamento e Controllo / Aeronautica Militare) capacity of both sites.

The plan envisages the extension of the voice handling facilities of the MULTIFONO® M800IP® VCS (SITTI Voice Communication System) in Ciampino to cope with the radio and telephone connections originally attested in Brindisi. New Controller Working Positions are also added to the Ciampino site for the proper management of the sectors over Southern Italy.

The transition of the remaining sector BRS (South Brindisi Area) is planned for the beginning of 2026.

Once these have been activated, both sites will be capable of controlling the airspace in parallel for a limited period of time, until the Brindisi facility will be shut down.

SITTI has successfully equipped the Fire Brigade with a cutting-edge communication system for their new operational centre in Naples, further demonstrating its versatility and dedication to excellence. This advanced system, part of SITTI’s comprehensive product portfolio, ensures dependable and efficient management of emergency situations, thereby strengthening the long-standing partnership between SITTI and the Fire Brigade, which has adopted SITTI solutions throughout the national territory over the years.

The new Operations Centre was inaugurated on November 28, 2024, in a ceremony attended by key stakeholders and authorities. This achievement underlines SITTI’s key role in providing high-performance communication systems for any strategic services requiring secure and solid controlled communication.

The system provided by SITTI is the state-of-the-art M800IP® Voice Communication System (VCS), which includes a redundant COTS server solution and complementary devices, such as the GPS master clock, webcams, video call facilities, and other auxiliary services.

The operational room for the Fire Brigade’s general direction in Naples represents a significant advancement in the modernization of the service and sets the stage for future installations aimed at enhancing support for citizens in emergency situations.

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** VERSIONE ITALIANA **

SITTI ha fornito con successo ai Vigili del Fuoco un avanzato sistema di comunicazione per il loro nuovo centro operativo a Napoli, ancora una volta dimostrando la versatilità dei propri prodotti. Questo sistema tecnologicamente all’avanguadia è parte dell’ampio portafoglio prodotti SITTI e garantisce una gestione affidabile ed efficiente delle situazioni di emergenza, rafforzando così la partnership di lunga data tra SITTI e i Vigili del Fuoco, che negli anni hanno adottato soluzioni SITTI su tutto il territorio nazionale.

Il nuovo Centro Operativo è stato inaugurato il 28 novembre 2024, con una cerimonia alla quale hanno partecipato anche molte autorità. Questo risultato sottolinea il ruolo chiave di SITTI nel fornire sistemi di comunicazione ad alte prestazioni per tutti i servizi strategici che richiedono comunicazioni sicure, affidabili e controllate.

Il sistema fornito da SITTI è il sistema di comunicazione vocale (VCS) M800IP® basato su una soluzione server COTS ridondante e dotato di apparati supplementari, come un orologio connesso al sistema satellitare GPS, webcam, servizi di videochiamata, eccetera.

La sala operativa della Direzione Generale dei Vigili del Fuoco di Napoli rappresenta un significativo avanzamento nel percorso di ammodernamento del servizio e pone le basi per futuri allestimenti volti a potenziare il supporto ai cittadini in situazioni di emergenza.

At the beginning of October, SITTI hosted the Greek commission that had the task of preparing and carrying out the FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) of the ordered systems. The commission had the opportunity of having “hands on” one of the VCS systems (Voice Communication System) that will be installed in Greece in the frame of a large project covering many sites. Recorders have been included as well.

The Acceptance Test Procedures (ATP) have been approved, thus permitting the prosecution of the activities envisaged in the contract between SITTI and HASP (the Hellenic Aviation Service Provider).

“We have been very committed to the good outcome of the visit by HASP.” – Mr. Panzeri, SITTI Program Manager, said – “Its positive completion once more testifies the robustness, flexibility, reliability of our systems that will give the customer top-edge functionality for a safer flight management over Greece.”

It is a big honour for us to announce that SESAR approved the ANTICIPATE project to be eligible for being granted as an interesting Exploratory Research project (ER) under Grant Agreement 101166947. Six partners will be developing the project under the chairmanship of Miquel Àngel Piera Eroles:

1. Autonomous University of Barcelona (coordinator) – Spain
2. SITTI – Italy
3. Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA) – Italy
4. Institute For Sustainable Society And Innovation (ISSN) – Italy
5. Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUBS) – Germany
6. Eurocontrol – Belgium

This is the first time SITTI is a prime actor in SESAR projects: till now the contribution of our company to SESAR projects has been through other companies like ENAV. About one year ago, SITTI was the coordinator of another proposed project, named COVER, which has been positively evaluated but not funded by SESAR due to budget limitations.

The basic idea behind ANTICIPATE (acronym for Absorb Nearby Tidy Identified Candidates for Ideal Parteking Available Extra-Capacity) is the identification of a set of aircrafts that can be delegated to an adjacent sector to balance the workload of controllers and better exploit the capacity of each sector, by transferring the competence of a given number of aircrafts from an overloaded sector to a less engaged one.

This shall be accomplished by also taking into consideration the trajectories of the aircrafts and other possible traffic limitations, while maintaining the minimum separation between aircrafts. This project differs from possibly correlated concepts such as Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) and Dynamic Airspace Sectorization (DAS) because the airspace is not “deformed” nor “reconfigured”, but the intended result is obtained by transferring a properly identified group of aircrafts from a controller to another, with temporary modification of the airspace structure.

From August 20 to 25, SITTI will be exposing at the Rimini Meeting, the annual event organized by the Communion and Liberation movement. This is the 45^th edition of this important event, whose importance in the cultural, political, religious and social fields is continuously growing: more than 700.000 persons are expected to visit the meeting this year.

The title chosen for the current edition raises a great challenge for us: ‘If we are not looking for the essential then, what are we looking for?’. The meeting in Rimini (https://www.meetingrimini.org/) is intended to show that all human aspects are strictly interconnected: society, economics, religion, work, finance all involve us as a whole and we have to think and follow what is really important to us, the essential.

ENAV and SITTI together showed how they contribute to the activities ruled by the Ministry for infrastructure and transport (MIT), by allowing visitors of all ages and all kind of backgrounds to understand how Air Traffic Control (ATC) works and is organized. Most visitors are not aware of what happens “behind the scenes” when they get on a plane and they get surprised when they start understanding how much technology is involved to guarantee they reach their destination safely and timely.

The ENAV-SITTI joint stand has been visited by the Ministry for infrastructure and transport, Mr. Matteo Salvini, who congratulated for the constant attention to passengers and the advanced technological achievements and future projects that are being implemented by the two companies.

SITTI is grateful for the opportunity it is having to reach the general public through the Meeting in Rimini, allowing visitors to appreciate the topmost level of technology applied to Air Traffic Control, developed by a fully Italian company.