KVM expertise for Towers, Digital Towers and Air Traffic Control Centers

G&D to exhibit powerful concepts for flexible and fail-safe IT access in ATC control rooms at Airspace World in Geneva, Switzerland.

KVM manufacturers Guntermann & Drunck will be presenting their extensive portfolio of KVM solutions for ANSPs at the Airspace World in Geneva, 08 - 10 March 2023, at booth H17, where they will also provide in-depth expertise to individual projects of customers and partners. 

KVM systems have long been well-established in the IT infrastructures of ATC control room applications. Whether tower, remote tower or air traffic control center – G&D’s KVM equipment enables flexible IT access, comprehensive redundancy concepts, fail-safety, and increase cyber security. KVM systems extend and distribute computer signals, thus allowing the remote operation of computers without any latency and at best video quality. The computers can still be accessed in real-time from control rooms, air traffic control centers or remote towers. It is hard to imagine mission-critical sectors such as airspace surveillance without KVM. Here, G&D systems optimize the IT infrastructure and create ideal working conditions for both Air Traffic Controllers and technicians. It enables the physical separation of teams, but facilitates the collaboration between individual team members while also supporting multiple-shift models.

In Geneva, the German manufacturer will present the broadest, combinable and compatible KVM product portfolio at the market. 

From multi-monitor workplace to adaptable solution

With its KVM systems, G&D also respond to the trend towards multiviewing consoles in ATC control rooms. Therefore, the company will be presenting the PersonalWorkplace-Controller at WATM that facilitates the work of controllers. Using a separate monitor for each process is now a thing of the past. The PersonalWorkplace-Controller makes it is possible to easily display, arrange and operate multiple video signals on just one large monitor or multiple displays. This gives ATCOs the option of individually configuring their workspace with different computer sources. The modified arrangements, which can be saved and called up as layouts, create optimized and adaptable controller working positions.

In addition to getting a clearly arranged overview of all processes on just one monitor, Air Traffic Controllers also have simultaneous integrated and flexible access to the data they need. Displaying multiple computer sources in real time on one large monitor, and thus providing latency-free operation of multiple computers from a single console, facilitates work in towers, digital towers or ATC rooms. In addition, the high image quality and unlimited flexibility in arranging sources provide great added value. This allows active work areas and monitoring areas to be ergonomically set up on larger screens. 

Digital towers with systems from G&D

Since digitizing towers is on the rise, the KVM experts also offer solutions fitting these critical applications. Redundancy concepts for the computers providing the live images from the surveillance cameras, for example, can be mapped with a switch. If one computer fails, the system connects to the second, redundant computer without interrupting the controller's work.

In almost all variants of the Digital Tower, video screens are implemented and crucial for the work of air traffic controllers. As the view out of the window is not possible in a remote tower, displaying the outside view with a reliable system is crucial for operation. Here, too, G&D has a suitable solution with the The PersonalWorkplace-Controller. The device can be used to manage a video wall and to display up to 26 physical video inputs on one or multiple monitors. This ensures the important panoramic view on the video wall.  

KVM solutions tailored for Air Traffic Control

Thanks to many years of working closely with air traffic controls around the world, the portfolio of the German manufacturer includes numerous classic KVM products supporting 4K resolutions and specially tailored to the requirements of ANSPs. A prime example of this commitment is the high-performance KVM switch DP1.2-MUX3-ATC, which lets ATCOs operate up to three computers from one console. With its instant switching technology, the system enables extremely fast switching and thus seamlessly changing between primary and fallback systems.

The manufacturer also meets the demand for uncompressed KVM systems. The powerful KVM extender system DP1.2-VisionXG extends computer signals via optical fibers at a distance of up to 10,000 m and provides uncompressed, loss-free and latency-free data transfer – pixel by pixel for best hand-eye coordination. The dedicated transmission offers sufficient bandwidth for an uncompressed and pixel-perfect transmission of 4K and 8K videos at 60Hz refresh rate.

The company offers in-depth expertise in building KVM infrastructures for mission-critical applications. At the Airspace World from 08 – 10 March 2023, interested ANSPs and integrators will be able to get personal advice on their individual IT solutions at booth H17.