Description

High-availability ATC radio system
Key Facts
  • Level of availability meeting or exceeding that of traditional main/standby solutions
  • Reduction in the required capital investment and ongoing maintenance costs
  • Less space required at each radio site
  • Flexible approach for site-specific solutions

Brief Description One of the key factors in ensuring safety in air traffic control (ATC) applications is to provide a high level of availability for the ground-to-air communication system. The R&S®GV4000 multi-link controller was developed to achieve this goal. It provides n+m redundancy for R&S®Series4200 radios, which ensures higher availability levels at lower costs compared to the traditional 1+1 redundancy. In the past, most ATC systems used 1+1 redundancy, where each main unit had a dedicated backup unit. Today, more and more ATC authorities are employing systems with n+m redundancy, where n main units operate with m non-dedicated backup units. The R&S®GV4000 controls the status of up to 16 main radios and two backup radios. If a radio failure occurs in any of the 16 main radios, the R&S®GV4000 automatically switches over to one of the two standby radios. Detailed mathematical calculations show that n+m redundancy can reduce system downtime by a factor of up to six compared to standard 1+1 redundancy. The results of these calculations have been confirmed through years of field experience with systems using the R&S®GV4000 in n+m applications. The use of n+m redundancy significantly reduces the number of radios needed. As a result, considerably less space is required at each radio site, and procurement and operating costs are lower. No modifications to the voice communication switch are needed to implement n+m redundancy with the R&S®GV4000 in existing ATC systems.
Features & Benefits
  • Increase in radio channel availability
    • n+m redundancy with automatic switchover
    • Priority concept for switchover of radios
  • Reduction in system costs and rack space
    • Reduction in capital investment and ongoing maintenance costs
    • Reduced space requirements
  • Flexible integration into existing ATC systems
    • Optimal solution for each radio site
    • Integration into remote control and monitoring systems
  • Field-proven technology
    • Monitoring and control of radios via SNMP
    • Capability to operate with analog signals, including E&M
    • Simple configuration with extremely easy-to-use setup software
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