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April 20, 2015

FAA to Upgrade Communications with VoIP


By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

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Much of the Federal Aviation Administration uses legacy technology to provide communications between air traffic controllers. It has moved to the point of obsolescence because the technology is more than 20 years old, and many parts necessary for replacement of those communications systems are no longer available.


When those systems break, it can obviously put aviation crews in a bind. The FAA is working to jump into the current century, however, with new technology that relies on VoIP and will continue to operate as reliably as administrators have come to expect from their dated systems. A recent report at Avionics Magazine says the new tech is called the National Voice System (NVS) and will act as a complete replacement to the Small Digital Voice Switch and Rapid Deployment Voice Switch technologies that are now commonplace in small and large aviation towers alike.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says Harris Corp. (News - Alert) developed the NVS. It is expected to begin deployment throughout the National Airspace System—the airspace, navigation facilities, and airports in the U.S.—by 2018. Jon Shedden, the NATCA NVS representative, spoke to Avionics Magazine about the benefits that NVS will bring to the industry. He mentioned the Remote Radio Node that will provide an interface between VoIP and non-VoIP radios.

“The biggest benefits it will provide for controllers are we’re no longer relying on those direct connections,” Shedden began. “The legacy connection that voice switches are connected to today, the only way I can call facilities outside, I can ring their position in a traditional way, I dial their number and their position physically rings. That’s still based on old legacy technology. When we connect using VOIP I can now override or instantly be connected to any other NVS position in the NAS instantly.”

He appears to understate the real value in this new technology as it relates to speed of connections. The communication between NAS officials is critically important to the success of proper traffic control in the airways. Communications between multiple parties involved with flights can determine whether or not there is space in the air or a runway for a plane to take off or land. Any missteps could be catastrophic.

Therefore, it is important that traffic controllers gain any advantages to speed of communications that they can. Physically dialing a number and waiting for a ring and answer will take only a half a minute at most, but that half minute is a lifetime compared to the direct connection that a VoIP system can provide. There will be the potential to integrate calling from within an overall communications suite and cut calling time down to just a matter of seconds. Everyone in the system will be reachable all the time.

Improvement to the software that controls the NVS is reportedly being tweaked to make sure that it works smoothly in all aspects of a radio operator's typical day. Shedden said it would be detrimental to make controllers busy with navigating a poorly-designed system when they already have a lot on their plates. He said the system should not be “something harder than what they use today.”

In addition, NVS will run through a secure broadband connection provided by the FTI telecommunications company. FTI already provides a secure network through the NAS that comprises 30,000 circuits in order to connect all parts of the system.




Edited by Dominick Sorrentino
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