Flight Control upgrade at Pantelleria

Pantelleria is a small, yet strategic island in the Mediterranean Sea. It belongs to Italy, although is twice closer to Africa than to Sicily. Because of its enviable geographic position, the island has ever since hosted a military airport that is today also used by civil national and international flights operating on two runways.

Aeronautica Militare (the Italian Air Force) awarded SITTI and LEONARDO a contract for the upgrade the local infrastructure, encompassing both G/G (ground/ground) and A/G (air/ground) communications. SITTI will contribute by providing its state-of-the-art products, that will permit local ATCOs to rely on enhanced and secure communications to other controllers, aircraft pilots and other ground air traffic management services.

As part of the supply by SITTI, a new server-based VCS (Voice Communication System) will be deployed at Pantelleria. The new VCS system belongs to the SYNCRONIS® MULTIFONO® M800IP® family that has already been successfully installed at many other civil and military airports and ACCs (Area Control Centres) in Italy and abroad.

The VCS will be complemented by VoIP (Voice over IP) RIU-GVS gateways, capable of converting existing links to equipment using digital and/or analogue communication technologies to/from standard IP, according to the world-famous ED-137 standard. Both VHF and UHF radios with ECCM facilities are being connected to the VCS through Radio Interface Units (RIU).

In addition to that, multifunctional MTF800 terminals will also be installed, allowing ATCOs to increase their situational awareness thanks to the concentration of different information sources on a limited number of display devices in a smooth and integrated way. Data and audio are recorded by means of a VRS800S standard and legal recorder, where information is time-stamped and stored for later playback via the replay system, also provided by SITTI.