Air Force Remote Radio Sites by SITTI

The air traffic control communication network can be, generally speaking, made of many remote sites hosting analogue and/or digital single or multi-channel radios for allowing controller to talk to pilots. Remote radio sites shall provide operators placed at different geographical locations the possibility of using their frequencies in a shared way, so that a radio shall not be deemed as “belonging” to a given VCS (Voice Communication System), but can be accessed and used by a plurality of VCSs.

When radios are natively compliant with the international ED-137 standard, this feature is already given by the radios themselves because this is a common behaviour well defined by the standard. When vice versa radios do not comply with ED-137 (e.g. analogue or digital radios), then a gateway is put between the radios themselves and the VoIP (Voice over IP) network to allow mutual coexistence and access capability.

For the Italian Air Force, the gateway function is provided by so-called RIU (Remote Interface Units) by SITTI that permit MULTIFONO® M800IP® VCS systems to send and receive audio and data to and from radios of any kind. This is particularly of interest for the integration of remote site radios into the NATINAMDS radio infrastructure that is used by the Air Force. RIU devices also contribute reducing the bandwidth needed to connect to remote radios and provide all management and information services needed for their efficient handling.

SITTI is being supplying additional interface systems and RIUs to enhance and complete the access to all radio sites, also providing automatic operational substitution of faulty equipment, multiple VCS access to radios, priority assignment, frequency management tools.

The long experience accumulated by SITTI all along the many decades of successful support to military forces worldwide makes it possible to offer a turn-key solution project and geographical test bed that will be evaluated by the Air Force for implementation starting in 2023.