Air Traffic Management Testing Solutions for ED-137 and ED-138 Standards
Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA - Mar 21, 2024 - GL Communications Inc., a global leader in telecom test and measurement solutions, addressed the press regarding their Air Traffic Management (ATM) testing solutions for Analog, TDM, Ethernet, and IP communications networks. These solutions are adaptable to global standards, making them versatile for various needs.
GL offers innovative solutions for testing next-generation ATM networks. This includes the ability to emulate and load test equipment such as Controller Working Positions (CWP), Ground Radio Stations (GRS), Analog-to-IP converters, Gateways, and more. Components can be accurately evaluated for timing, performance, and functionalities.
Vijay Kulkarni, CEO of GL Communications, states, “The GL test suite for next-generation Air Traffic Management has been used world-wide by Air Navigation Service Providers and Equipment Manufacturers to test mission critical network infrastructure. The tools adhere to the ED-137 standards, providing signaling and traffic emulation. They also monitor the quality of service as per ED-138 and offer call quality statistics such as MOS (Mean Opinion Score), Packet loss, Jitter, Latency and more”.
The Timing Measurements within the Air Traffic Management test suite can precisely measure signal, voice delay and voice quality (PESQ/POLQA scores) across the device or ATM network.
Critical Delay Measurements
Measuring delays in hybrid ATM networks ensures clear communication between air traffic controllers and pilots. Recognizing, capturing, timestamping, and correlating events at Analog, TDM, and IP interfaces are vital. Repeated delay measurements guarantee consistent performance.
GL’s Timing Measurements in Timing Measurements in Air Traffic Management (TM-ATM)precisely measures delay in ATM networks. It includes hardware and software to identify, capture, timestamp, and correlate events at Analog, TDM, and IP interfaces. This solution, based on Message Automation and Protocol Simulation (MAPS™) software, emulates various telecom protocols. It operates on Windows®, using the PC’s network interface card for traffic transmission.
Key Features
- Delay measurements for various signals such as Push To Talk (PTT), Squelch On/Off, and Main/Standby Tx/Rx transfer, among others
- Supports for end-to-end voice quality measurement using industry standard ITU algorithms (PESQ and POLQA)
- Repetitive testing for measuring consistency and reliability
- Load test the network to achieve the required Peak Busy Hour and Peak Busy Minute loads
- Centralized control and reporting of tests
- Interfaces with Analog, TDM and IP based systems
- Measure delay and voice quality between Analog and IP networks
- Automated tests to run multiple iterations for accuracy and consistency
- Timing accuracy using different clock sources - Local clock, GPS, Master, and Slave
- Supports audio/tone transmission and recording/tone detection
- Define up to 32 hardware-based filters for wirespeed filtering
- Detect voice in the IP packets and calculate voice delay
- Measured delays for every iteration are logged to CSV file
- Display live measurement and load statistics
- Export results to PDF reports or CSV files
Solutions for Air Traffic Management
GL's solutions encompass rack-mounted and portable hardware equipment deployed across the Air Traffic Management network, including:
- Central Administrative System: Controls all components of the test suite and performs measurements
- ED-137 Radio Emulator: Emulates air to ground calls and supports multiple CWPs or GRSs
- Packet Filter System: Deploys in-line on an Ethernet network to filter and timestamp packets of interest
- Analog VCS/Radio Emulator: Emulates PTT/Squelch and Audio, generating TTL triggers
- Event Decoder and Control Signal Detector: Receive and process filtered packets with timestamping
GL emulates air-to-ground, ground-to-ground, and recorder interfaces as per ED-137 standards. All IP traffic can be monitored using the IP analyzer - PacketScan™ and analyzed either locally or remotely using web based - NetSurveyorWeb™ applications.