R&S IP-based voice comms system for NZ ATC

Airways Corporation of New Zealand (known as ‘Airways’), the country’s air navigation service provider, has selected the Rohde & Schwarz VCS-4G IP-based voice communications system for air traffic control (ATC) communications in New Zealand airspace.

Airways is modernising the entire New Zealand air traffic management (ATM) infrastructure over the next few years.

Rohde & Schwarz will provide a quad-redundant R&S VCS-4G IP-based voice communications system in two tranches. Tranche one will see the equipment and infrastructure installed in the Auckland and Christchurch air traffic control centres, while tranche two (anticipated to start in 2021) will deliver tower-based equipment across 22 tower locations nationwide.

The technology will support Airways New Zealand as it moves towards a new one-centre, two-location operational model across its Auckland and Christchurch locations.

The contract was signed on 21 June 2018, enabling Rohde & Schwarz to commence the implementation immediately.

The design phase will be completed in 2018, with installation and commissioning in the Auckland and Christchurch ATC centres conducted in a phased deployment, to be completed by 2020.

The overall project includes the delivery, implementation and through-life support for more than 200 controller working positions, with interfacing to the new ATM system, new ATC radios and various ground-ground communication lines.

The project will be managed, delivered and supported by Rohde & Schwarz Australia, leveraging the extensive R&S VCS-4G product expertise of Rohde & Schwarz Topex. Topex has been part of the Rohde & Schwarz group of companies since 2010 and is its centre of competence for voice switching solutions.

The quad-redundant, distributed architecture offered for the control centres in Auckland and Christchurch will be a key element in helping Airways significantly increase resilience and provide a unique geographic flexibility to manage operations in a single trusted environment in the future.

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Originally published here.