ISAVIA is Iceland’s airport and air navigation service provider (ANSP). In terms of safety and efficiency, ISAVIA operates in one of the world's most demanding operational air traffic control (ATC) environments, over the North Atlantic. As such, the Reykjavik oceanic control area (OCA) handles some 100,000 aircraft annually. ISAVIA recognized the important ATC market trend towards monitoring IP voice networks many years ago by implementing a fully IP-based Voice Communication System for its oceanic control.
In order to monitor and maintain high service quality, ISAVIA recently installed R&S AVQA advanced voice quality assurance system covering four sites, including an area control center and radio sites. The central monitoring is performed with the R&S AVQA manager, and the monitoring includes air-ground (A/G), ground-ground (G/G), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), frequency and loopback monitoring. The unique loopback monitor uses patented techniques to check the end-to-end functionality of voice systems.
“We are very pleased with our longstanding, and mutually beneficial relationship with Rohde & Schwarz and already use its CERTIUM VCS,” Óskar Egilsson, technical operations manager at ISAVIA, explains. “We were one of the first ANSPs to adopt the ED-137 standard. Now, R&S AVQA provides us with a unique passive monitoring capability that covers signaling as well as media and radio transmission performance.”
“We have a successful business history supporting the ATC sector in Island, and this is another important step in supplying latest ATC technology to ISAVIA and reaffirming our long-term commitment to the country,” says Marius Münstermann, Vice President Market Segment ATC at Rohde & Schwarz.
In a world-first deployment, enabling virtual ATC center operations, ISAVIA and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) operate their individual control centers in Gufunes and Ballygirreen on demand in joint operation mode, sharing radio and telephony communications resources as if they were in a single ATC center.
