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| News |
| 9th October 2020 |
| ATCOs control air traffic due to modern CNS equipment |
Air travellers are well aware of the air traffic controllers’ profession and their important role for safety, as ATCOs are key figures in the process of direct air traffic control. However, in order to facilitate ATCOs to do their job, many other specialists, who are vital for the air navigation services (ANS) and consequently for the aviation activities, work “behind the scenes”.
Communication, navigation and surveillance facilities allow ATCOs to see the marks of the airborne aircraft on the monitor screen, no matter what altitude they are flying, to hear the crew and conduct radio communications with them, and thereby control air traffic. UkSATSE specialists who provide the operation of this sophisticated ground equipment are also involved in air traffic management and belong to the operational personnel, so the safety in the Ukrainian sky also depends on them.
The technical facilities network providing various communication channels helps to create a reliable navigation platform and monitor the aircraft, as well as special weather phenomena - this is a complicated multi-level system supported by unique highly qualified specialists.
During the conversation with Viktor FESIUNOV, the Head of the department of ATS automation, communication and telecommunications facilities management, we learnt more about aeronautical telecommunication which is one of the department activities.
“UkSATSE Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) Service provides technical equipment necessary for the Air Navigation Services Department - this is our basic essentials. In other words, our specialists provide operation of all necessary CNS system facilities using which ATCOs control air traffic in their areas of responsibility. The phrase – “I see, hear and control” describes not only the main ATCOs’ tasks, but also their need for the means that will ensure the performance of these tasks.
Telecommunication service based on the accepted Ukrainian airspace structure is required, in particular, for the provision of high-quality ANS. There are different types of telecommunication for the ANS system.
• Aircraft aeronautical telecommunication (ground-to-air) which provides a fixed continuous connection between an ATCO and an aircraft crew.
• Aeronautical ground telecommunication (ground-to-ground) which provides a fixed continuous communication between ATCOs of adjacent centres, between ATCOs workplaces in different ATC units and for interaction with units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
• Intra-airport telecommunication for interaction with the airport aerodrome services.
 Air traffic control is impossible without reliable ground-to-air communication channels through which ATCOs perform radio exchange with aircraft crews. Each sector is assigned a certain frequency published in the Aeronautical Information Publication of Ukraine, and each pilot is well aware of these frequencies used for communication with the ACC, APP and TWR ATCOs. Each sector has its own VHF radio stations located at separate transceiver centres or remote sites of telecommunication operators (retransmitters).
Aircraft aeronautical telecommunication must be available in any event! Safety depends on it. To ensure the reliability of communications, we provide double coverage of each zone to the maximum altitude within the area of responsibility of Ukraine.
The locations where the equipment is installed were not randomly selected. In the past, all the points and radii were determined with the help of compasses on maps and flight calibrations. In 2000, we ordered a special POLE program from the Academy of the Ministry of Defence which makes a theoretical calculation of radio stations locations to be installed taking into account the terrain and other factors. This allows us to choose the optimal place for each radio station to be most efficient. In order to back up these stations, there are several of them - at least two, the main station and the backup one. In the days of the USSR, they were located at the same site, but since 2014, we have different geographically spaced points with separate lines, which are usually provided by different communication operators. This principle was first applied in Skadovsk and Berdiansk when the occupation of Crimea began.
Even with the slightest malfunction of one of the lines of aircraft communication channel, the other one operates in parallel and ensures continuous communication between the ATCO and the aircraft crew. Additional separate aeronautical telecommunication equipment is installed at separate ATC workstations of the Aerodrome Control Tower with a very high intensity of flights. It is powered by batteries that provide at least 2-hour equipment operation. We carefully analyse any equipment failures or malfunctions to draw conclusions and prevent them in the future.
Also, each ATM centre, ACCs and TWRs are equipped with LRS - radio stations with battery backup. They are called “last hope radio stations” abroad - it sounds a bit strange, but it is a good thing. These stations are connected to separate lines, regardless of other remote sites, are located primarily on the roofs of aerodrome control towers, run on battery power and can provide communication for at least 2 hours. Therefore, even in case of problems at peripheral sites or in the Voice Communication Control System, ATCOs will not remain without communication.
In order to increase the reliability of coverage at lower altitudes, the UkSATSE infrastructure development plan was implemented at the Flight Information Service Unit. We analysed the condition of cable communication lines, telecommunication equipment, VHF radios and determined where it is appropriate to install retransmitters, selected the optimal points. The developed list of facilities became the basis for the project implementation in partnership with the EBRD. Under the contract, which is being implemented in stages, we plan to replace about 30 facilities throughout Ukraine. This will be the final replacement for the remnants of obsolete communication equipment that has worked out its resource.
The state-of-the-art equipment manufactured by Rohde&Schwarz is operated in Odesa, Boryspil, Lviv, Dnipro and Kharkiv Regional Branches. Zaporizhzhia, Uzhhorod, Ivano-Frankivsk and Cherkasy facilities have already been modernized under the program of radio stations replacement for ATS Units.
The newest air communication equipment allows us to work with the 8.33 kHz frequency grid (we now work with the 25 kHz bandwidth) and enables the use of VoIP technologies.
 Today we have about 980 radio stations, transmitters and receivers. Each facility is put into operation according to a clear procedure: ground test, further in-flight test, submission of a package of documents to the State Aviation Administration to receive a separate certificate for each radio station and transceiver.
Aeronautical ground telecommunication (ground-to-ground) is a voice communication between ATCOs. When an aircraft enters the area of responsibility of Kyiv ACC from Lviv FIR, Lviv ATCO hands it over to his colleague in Kyiv. This is done through direct voice communication, also called instant voice communication.
We use modern Voice Communication Control Systems MULTIFONO 600, 600S and 800. They combine two components - ground and aircraft telecommunication. These systems are also being upgraded so that they can operate in VoIP mode, which enables remote monitoring and control of new radio stations. No permanent presence of technical personnel at remote sites is required.
Telecommunication technologies and equipment are evolving very rapidly changing significantly in about five years. ANS ground communication equipment should be compatible with the equipment of neighbouring states. Therefore, we have to use and support the most advanced technologies and take into account the current pace of development.
Ground communication. UkSATSE has, on the whole, been fortunate since its establishment. In the late eighties - early nineties, the project of Strila ATC System was implemented, which gave an impulse to the development of Ukrainian air navigation infrastructure. I started working at Strila in 1990 when its equipment was just being mounted. Eight en-route radar facilities were installed all over Ukraine. The location of these facilities was chosen by special institutes. Considerable resources were allocated to finance laying of separate lines of communication connecting our sites in Ukraine, communication centres of the former USSR Ministry of Communications and civil aviation airports. As part of this project, Strila ATC System was installed at Boryspil airport (now Kyivcenteraero RB). Together with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Communications, special copper cables with core thickness of 0.9 mm and 1.2 mm were used for long-distance backbone lines.
Independent Ukraine has inherited a wide communication network built back in Soviet times. Our Strila was supposed to be the second such system after the one installed in Rostov. At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was not completed - there was a lack of subsystems to control all radio stations. But we used the existing cable lines that were connected to the nearest Ukrtelecom nodes, and the location information was fed to our ATC System. After the modernization, it was named Strila-Alenia (after the Italian manufacturer). We had been using those copper communication lines until 2017.
 Since 2017, the quality of aeronautical telecommunication has significantly improved, and our capabilities have expanded. This happened after the completion of a very challenging and important for the whole country project initiated by UkSATSE in 2015. The entire network of cable lines across the country was completely replaced with fibre optics. We managed to agree with our partner, Ukrtelecom operator, on laying the optics at their expense, while UkSATSE guaranteed long-term lease of these up-to-date communication channels based on the contract. Ukrtelecom ensures trouble-free operation of leased communication channels and promptly solves all problematic issues for UkSATSE as a special user. Communication lines connecting our sites are organized in two geographically dispersed areas. One is with Ukrtelecom operator, and since 2016, the second area has been organized with Datagroup operator, which provides data transfer via TDM and Ethernet channels. UkSATSE refused to use tone channels in 1996 - 1998.
In 2018, UkSATSE started to cooperate with another telecommunication operator which provided us with E1 (2048 Kb/s) and Ethernet (100 Mbit) channels for data transmission. Some of the channels are employed for information technology service, and some are used for air traffic services. So, we cooperate with two independent operators and have prospects of using the most innovative technologies and increasing data transmission rate.
Backbone telecommunication network of UkSATSE runs efficiently. The administrative monitoring centre of this network operates in the Ukraerozviazok subdivision. Dedicated software allows monitoring the state of equipment, ensuring its operability and maintaining interaction between communication specialists who work in duty shifts. There is a possibility to change channels and parameters remotely. We use state-of-the-art equipment manufactured by RAD and Cisco and have the same format, protocols and interfaces as the equipment of our colleagues working in similar centres in neighbouring countries.
Reservation of international communication channels with neighbouring countries has been established. The first international channel was organized with Bulgarian colleagues back in 2003. This allowed us to solve the problem that previously arose in Simferopol at our KRYMAERORUKH RB. The interaction with the Romanian ANS provider was very fruitful. Channels in the directions Lviv - Bucharest - Sofia - Lviv, as well as Lviv - Budapest - Bratislava - Lviv and Odesa - Chisinau - Bucharest - Lviv - Odesa are now being reserved. The main thing was to agree on such cooperation, which is important for the safety of air traffic in the European region.
Ground loud speaking communication for ATC provision over the Black Sea. In the late '90s, the sea cable Sevastopol - Constanta (Romania) was damaged, which affected the quality of communication between Simferopol and Ankara. We had for so long worked to solve this problem and finally EUROCONTROL offered to organize direct voice communication connecting Simferopol, Ankara, Bucharest and Sofia control centres using VSAT satellite communication system. The first terminal of VSAT system was put into operation in 1997 in Simferopol ACC. In 2000, the VSAT system terminals were installed at Odesa RB. This ATCO - ATCO communication has been successfully operating so far in each of the four countries. We are currently planning to upgrade the ground equipment which has been receiving a satellite signal for twenty years.
We managed in due course to agree with Turkey on establishment of data transmission channels using OLDI protocol in the direction of Simferopol - Ankara - Rostov - Simferopol (since before the Crimea occupation). Though there were sceptics who thought it was unlikely. They convinced Rostov in expediency of purchasing necessary equipment that would provide reservation of channels. We, as project initiators, became curators of this transit.
Russians have not previously worked either using the voice communication protocol MFC - R2, or OLDI (automated exchange of messages between ATS centres). The first to contact Simferopol using OLDI and MFC-R2 was Rostov. They had the equipment manufactured by Frequentis, but they did not use it! They kept using equipment like Iva, an interface that we had stopped using back in the nineties. We offered them: you have Frequentis, we have SITTI, let's set up a modern communication channel. I made a bit of a joke during working meetings in Simferopol, saying that you guys have a Mercedes but you continue to ride a bike. In 2013, a protocol for cooperation using the OLDI protocol between Simferopol, Rostov and Ankara was signed in Rostov, and then we started successful cooperation. It was supposed to work in the same way with Dnipro, Kharkiv and Donetsk, but the occupation of Crimea broke off this interaction.
In 2000, a radio monitoring service was established at UkSATSE. Its main task is to identify sources of radio interference for ground communications, navigation and surveillance on frequencies fixed for UkSATSE. The Service closely cooperates with state regulatory authorities in the field of radio frequency resource use in Ukraine to ensure electromagnetic compatibility of radio electronic facilities of special and general users with UkSATSE technical facilities. Our colleagues also work to eliminate the identified sources of radio interference that affect onboard aeronautical telecommunication facilities. It should be noted that the service operates very effectively, and few air navigation providers in other countries have such services.
There are several reservations for voice communication channels. Firstly, we have a direct dedicated channel, secondly, the channels of Merydian digital automatic telephone stations corporate network set up in 2000. PBXs are installed in each ACC, and mini-PBXs are installed in ATS Units. Thirdly, there are public network telephones (i.e., a regular telephone landline number) and terminals for mobile communications. In addition, there is such a practice - the transmission of information through aircraft. The controller transmits the message to the airborne aircraft crew, and the latter - through the aeronautical telecommunication channel - to another ATCO. This is provided for in the instructions for emergency situations. Such a multi-layered structure enables ensuring safety when controlling air traffic: direct channels, PBXs, public telephone network, mobile communications and through the crew.
Everything must work properly, and ATCOs need to be calm at their workplaces. They should not bother at all about the technical and technological way it is achieved. This is the basic principle followed by all CNS specialists.
Maintaining qualification: refresher and development training at the Training and Certification Centre, training at the equipment manufacturing plants and sharing of experience with colleagues is also very important for our work. After mastering new equipment at the premises of a foreign manufacturer, our specialists, who come back from business trips, become instructors for their colleagues. And the ability to convey the acquired knowledge to others, to teach operational and technical staff is the highest skill.
It takes eight to ten years to train an excellent CNS expert: the first five and a half years are for training, then gaining experience at any of the sites that takes three to five years. Thanks to this, we have a qualified specialist who is able not only to cope with any problems, but also to prevent them”. |
| Source: UkSATSE |
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