COMSOFT GmbH - Solution provider and consultant to the Air Traffic Management sector

Bilateral AMHS interconnection tests between EUROCONTROL’s CFMU in Belgium and Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) in Germany have successfully been completed. The ICAO AFSG Planning Group acknowledged achievement in December.

Brussels/Belgium, Langen/Germany, January 2010 – Smooth traffic exchange at impressively high throughput rates could be witnessed during all phases of the bilateral AMHS interconnection tests between EUROCONTROL’s operational unit CFMU in Brussels and DFS in Langen, Germany. Messages were exchanged in both directions, in AMHS/AMHS, AFTN/AMHS and AFTN/AFTN mode, and according to all predefined requirements of multiple traffic scenarios. Ultimately, the stability of the two participating systems – both being of COMSOFT’s AIDA-NG brand and originally put into operational service back in 2005 (Langen) and 2004 (Brussels) – was acknowledged at the 38th ICAO AFSG  Planning Group meeting.

The AFSG Planning Group is a subgroup of ICAO's European Air Navigation Planning Group (EANPG), tasked among others with the ATSMHS implementation in Europe. On that occasion EUROCONTROL issued the encouraging statement: “Today’s AMHS material is mature enough to continue to move forward and [perform the] transition from the European wide AFTN/CIDIN to AMHS.”

While the data communication landscape is constantly altering, this example shows that occasionally seeds have been sown for the impending Pan-European Network Service (PENS) concept that was initiated by EUROCONTROL in the context of SESAR. PENS will be one of the main enablers for the Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) concept and is being developed as a common IP based network for ATM services.

In conclusion, the increasing number of operational AMHS links and accompanying preparation has shown that COMSOFT customers have full confidence in their systems and are poised to take the next step towards AMHS, exploiting the inherent benefits of this new technology.

Miriam GEPPERT                          Phone: +49 721 9497-107
COMSOFT GmbH                          Fax:   +49 721 9497-119
Wachhausstrasse 5a                    http://www.comsoft.aero
76227 Karlsruhe, Germany              mailto:miriam.geppert@comsoft.aero