Harris Corporation delivers first operational voice over IP air/ground communications for the national airspace system

Wednesday, Jul 18, 2012

Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has delivered the first operational Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) radio control capability into the National Airspace System (NAS). VoIP is an essential enabler of the agency’s evolution toward NextGen, a wide-ranging transformation of the entire U.S. air transport system.

“Liberty RCE’s flexibility enabled us to solve a technical issue that was encumbering our customer and reflects our continued commitment to providing the FAA with innovative solutions for their unique challenges.”

The Harris Liberty Radio Control Equipment (RCE) is operational at the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Air Route Traffic Control Center in Houston, which provides air/ground radio communications for the Gulf of Mexico, including remote oil platforms.

Liberty RCE can emulate virtually any radio link and offers radio control over a variety of transmission mediums, making it ideal for communications to isolated areas where digital services compatible with satellite communications are sparse, and reliance on legacy links and older analog technology is often the norm.

Liberty RCE was selected as an interim solution after the FAA encountered technical issues operating legacy RCE while deploying a remote air/ground communications facility on the oil platform Independence Hub in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The FAA selected the Liberty RCE for this mission because it addressed an immediate need for critical ATC communications in a remote and challenging environment,” said John O’Sullivan, vice president, Mission Critical Networks, Harris Government Communications Systems. "Liberty RCE’s flexibility enabled us to solve a technical issue that was encumbering our customer and reflects our continued commitment to providing the FAA with innovative solutions for their unique challenges.”

Source: Business Wire