For over two decades, engineers and scientists from ITT Advanced Engineering & Sciences have worked closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help continually modernize the communications and navigation capabilities of the organization that runs the nation's air traffic control network.

Established in 1958, the FAA is the agency of the U.S. Government with primary responsibility for the safety of civil aviation. The agency operates a network of airport towers, air route traffic control centers, and flight service stations. It also develops air traffic rules, allocates the use of airspace, and provides for the security control of air traffic to meet national defense requirements.

As the United States enters the 21st century, the nation is poised for an historic era of airspace development. Just as highways brought prosperity to every corner of the U.S. in the 20th century, air transportation is a key economic driver in this century. To help bring this vision to a reality, the FAA continually works on upgrading and modernizing its communications capabilities. With thousands of airports and facilities in operation and tens of thousands of employees, the communications requirements for the FAA are enormous.

Long History of Communications Systems Integration for FAA

According to John Kefaliotis, AES Vice-President of Network and Transportation Systems, "AES engineers and technical staff first began working on research and development engineering with the FAA over 25 years ago." AES personnel participated in early Air Traffic Control (ATC) concept studies that included engineering and analysis, simulation support and design concept development in most technical disciplines within ATC.

AES staff continued working with the FAA to modernize the national air traffic control system - the National Airspace System Plan - providing services in the areas of automation, communications systems engineering and implementation and transition engineering.

Successful Prototype and Test Leads to Improved Navigation

A significant activity undertaken by AES for the FAA was pioneering work in developing software for the National Satellite Test Bed (NSTB) and using the NSTB to demonstrate that an augmented GPS satellite system would allow commercial and private aircraft to navigate safely via GPS.

Successful test flights against that test bed led to the formation of the FAA program known as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). WAAS is a safety-critical navigation system using GPS to provide a quality level of positioning information never before available to the aviation community.

Kefaliotis notes that, "Our ability to develop the software, integrate the system, and the resultant test showed the FAA that AES was a very high-end engineering organization that could develop ATC concepts as well as prototype and test them."

In parallel to WAAS, AES began work for the FAA on communications and network systems analysis and in advanced telecommunications and communications systems engineering. These projects included air-to-ground radio architecture studies, air-to-ground wave-form analysis, and next generation communication radio engineering studies (NEXCOM). Kefaliotis recalls that the "FAA received very high quality engineering analysis and studies services and received results that aided in the formulation of production communications systems".

Current Telecommunications Support

The legacy of R&D and engineering support supplied to the FAA for over two decades has led the FAA to award AES the FAA Telecommunications Support Contract (FTSC). The FTSC program calls for providing full engineering and technical support for the entire FAA telecommunications infrastructure including telecommunications requirements and network engineering. In support of the FTSC, AES has developed an extensive tool set to support and analyze FAA requirements and an extensive set of databases that provide information to quickly and easily solve FAA communications issues.

As an example, Kefaliotis explains that, "The FAA may require communications connectivity to every operational facility for the distribution of Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) data. AES will go to work to map out all technical requirements. AES technical staff will then perform an analysis of the best way to establish connectivity within the existing set of communications services and developing alternatives that find the least risk and the best cost. After this work is completed, this analysis will be handed off to an implementation group, also supported by AES."

With about 3,000 facilities that require communications connectivity, AES is also supporting the FAA's look into the future. This work includes extensive support to a 10-year program to modernize telecommunications services that would, over time, replace all existing FAA communications networks. "When program is complete", notes Kefaliotis, "the FAA have a modernized, cost effective, secure, integrated communications infrastructure."

AES is also providing information security analysis, risk assessment, risk mitigation plans, test plans, and disaster recovery plans for the FAA.

This work includes security analysis for existing systems and helping to define security requirements for the modernized telecommunications infrastructure.

Next Generation Air-to-Ground Radios

AES is also working with ITT to help modernize the FAA's Air-to-Ground communications.

ITT has been selected to provide the FAA with the new Air Traffic Control (ATC) radios. These multi-mode digital radios (MDR) will assist the FAA in providing communications services to the largest airspace system in the world.

The MDR incorporates the latest technological advances including the ability to simultaneously transmit voice and data communications.

With thirty-seven thousand radios to be built and installed throughout the FAA system over the next nine years, AES is working to develop, integrate and demonstrate management software for the radio and provide on-site program management support. These support services will include technical engineering support, engineering analysis including test planning, spectrum engineering, and overall system engineering of FAA air-to-ground data and voice over the next decade.

Communications Systems Integration

In describing the value added that AES brings to its work in communications system integration, Kefaliotis says that, "Within AES, we have an amazing end-to-end systems analysis, design development, and integration capability.

“We develop hardware - for instance a radio flying now on the space station. We develop software-controlled radios. We understand satellite navigation and communication work." Kefaliotis continues, saying that, "One thing that makes AES unique is not just our communications expertise. There are very few places on earth where people can do a better job of concept development, analysis, and prototyping for advanced air traffic control concepts."

Ralph Meoni, General Manager of AES notes that, "AES is a high-technology engineering organization with an extensive knowledge of communications including wired, wireless, terrestrial or satellite navigation as applied to ATC and ATC automation. We also have the unique capability to support the conceptualization, prototyping and full-scale development of advanced ATC concepts as shown by two recent patents in this area."

Back to Previous