ATIS systems optimise the recording of air-ground communication

The uninterrupted recording of communications between the aircraft and ground is of central importance for air traffic: it allows the causes of accidents and incidents to be quickly and reliably determined, while it can also be used to develop quality assurance measures for the continuous optimisation of air traffic safety. In line with what OACA aims to achieve, ATIS engineers have installed six VoiceCollect MDx RM16 recording systems at five airports, including two at the Tunis control centre. The two Tunis-based units were set up to record conversations from different sources. To ensure central access is nonetheless possible, the data here are archived to one and the same network storage system (a NAS server with two RAID 1 systems and a total of four HDDs). Using ATIS client applications, the recorders can be administrated and controlled from every location. This means that conversations can not only be recorded and replayed at each local recorder, but this can also be done centrally via the network. To meet the customers needs for redundancy, alongside the ATIS solution and the existing MDR-2000 recording equipment, each airport was also equipped with an RC-4000 recorder. The OACA staff have expressed their full satisfaction: Thanks to ATIS, all relevant conversations are now being stored with complete reliability on HDD, NAS and DVD at Tunisia's civil airports. This system is clearly a belt and braces approach, where data loss will definitely now be a thing of the past.

The Tunisian civil aviation authority OACA (Office de l'Aviation Civile et des Aéroports) is responsible for the operation and security of the country's seven international airports as well as the privately run Monastir airport. So as to guarantee the reliable, efficient and smooth processing of Tunisias constantly increasing air traffic, OACA also coordinates all adjacent airspaces via a national control centre at Tunis-Carthage International Airport.

OACAs central responsibilities include ensuring smooth communication between aircraft and ground and controlling air traffic in the areas served by each airport. To guarantee professional procedures and safety on a sustained basis, ongoing assessment of all available communications data is critical. For this reason, OACA is determined to continuously record and centrally archive all conversations relevant to flights in its area of responsibility. Against this background, OACA has placed the following requirements on the new recording system: - Redundant archiving - Central collection of all data in the Tunis control centre - Recording capacity of 72 channels per unit - A recording format that provides restricted access and is suitable for use as evidence

To date, conversations at the individual locations have been documented using MDR-2000 recorders, which, however, has been done neither centrally nor redundantly. The main reason for this has been the absence of connections between the individual locations and the Tunis control centre, as well as the sometimes very large distances involved.