Airport Systems Integration Services

Annapolis, Maryland—ARINC Incorporated today announced it will enhance the coverage and capabilities of its Air/Ground Domestic aviation voice radio service in North America, and has already started to upgrade the underlying VHF voice network infrastructure with new digital technology radios.

ARINC’s Air/Ground Domestic service supports most aeronautical operational control voice communications in North America. The company plans to replace aging in-service VHF transceivers at more than 120 VHF ground stations throughout the U.S. and Canada with new digital technology operating on a fully digital ground radio network.

“ARINC is making this major infrastructure investment today because we are fully committed to the future of VHF voice radio service for aviation. It is the primary communications medium for thousands of today’s commercial and business aircraft,” stated John Metzger, Program Director, ARINC Aviation Voice Services.

Despite a growing acceptance of data link operational communications by major airlines, VHF voice radio remains an industry standard widely used by commercial air carriers and Business and General Aviation.

The digital network improvements ARINC is making will result in improved radio range, increased overlapping coverage, greater voice clarity, and greater network availability. Aircraft operators will get the benefit of these digital improvements without the need to change any on-board radio equipment.

ARINC began installing its new digital ground station technology in August at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Flight tests have shown the digital equipment extends the VHF voice radio range by about 40 miles, or about 7 minutes of jet flight time. The extended range and overlapping coverage should reduce the need for pilots to change radio frequencies, and can improve the effectiveness of critical communications such as medical or mechanical emergencies in flight.

After the new digital radio deployment has been completed in the 4th Quarter of 2011, ARINC plans to simplify the North American radio network frequency coverage and reduce the number of active domestic VHF radio frequencies from 16 to six. This will include four (4) network quadrants covering the CONUS and additional network frequencies covering Mexico and the airspace between Seattle and Anchorage. The quadrant network system will continue to provide complete coverage above 20,000 feet, while simplifying frequency selection and requiring fewer frequency changes for flight crews.

ARINC also plans to implement system-wide diagnostics on the digital ground network. This will enable more pro-active network maintenance, for reduced downtime and increased system availability. Digital network addressing can also increase the efficiency of other features of Air/Ground Domestic in use today, such as automated message routing, telephone patching, and DTMF direct dialing between air and ground crews.

ARINC Incorporated, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, provides communications, engineering and integration solutions for commercial, defense and government customers worldwide. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland with regional headquarters in London and Singapore, ARINC is ISO 9001:2008 certified. For more information, visit the web site at www.arinc.com.

Release: 10-072

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