Airservices Australia VHF upgrade milestone
A ground-breaking project to modernise and upgrade the VHF radio communication network in Australia has reached a major milestone. Airservices Australia technicians have upgraded air-ground-air voice communication equipment at 100 of around 150 sites nationally. Vital to safe air navigation across the country, the 100th transmitter to be upgraded is at Table Mountain, Rockhampton. Airservices is replacing outmoded radios, aerials and network equipment with state-of-the-art hardware as part of an eight-year, US$40.8 million VHF system upgrade.
General manager technical and asset services, Alastair Hodgson, said the system provided crucial communication links between air traffic controllers in centres in Brisbane and Melbourne and aircraft travelling across Australia. “It delivers services to over 180 individual operating positions using around 590 radio transceivers located at more than 150 sites across Australia, many in regional and remote areas,” he said.
The system upgrade will enhance reliability and allow remote monitoring and defect rectification by Airservices technical staff. It also introduces additional system redundancy and back-up capability, improving the long-term safety and security of Airservices operations.
“Ultimately, all VHF services will be transitioned onto digital bearers as part of a separate multi-million dollar upgrade of Airservices own national telecommunications infrastructure,” said Hodgson. The system upgrade is due to be completed by mid-year.
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February 2010 >
Special Reports - Communications
