Solution Provider and Consultant to the Air Traffic Management Sector

Company Frequentis Comsoft GmbH
Date 09.03.2011

CFMU and PENS ready to drive the deployment of AMHS in Europe.

After a major software and hardware upgrade of the multi-protocol communication gateway ANg1 – installed at EUROCONTROL’s premises in Brussels and Brétigny as contingency solution – the systems were successfully migrated in early November. “The ANg1 software is very stable. Not a single exception occurred since its installation in May,” attests EUROCONTROL’s project manager Paul Saccasyn and further he concludes "the conducted AMHS tests show that today the AMHS material is mature enough to continue to move forward and transition from the European wide AFTN/CIDIN to AMHS."

In prior conducted endurance tests ANg1 had already proven its ability to process a constant load of 300.000 AMHS messages per hour. Additionally, a test AMHS connection with German DFS (established in August 2009 on request of DFS in order to have an independent connection between CFMU’s and DFS’s test environment) handled a constant load of 35.000 incoming and 65.000 outgoing messages per day for a couple of months in 2010, fundamentally underlining the performance and stability of the participating AMHS systems.

The Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU) manages all flights of EUROCONTROL member states and centrally processes corresponding flight plans. For that ANg1 has been the connection between CFMU and the communication networks of the respective national service provider since 2004.

ANg1 is based on COMSOFT’s message handling system AIDA-NG and thus provides all common application protocols including AMHS. Although the system has been fully capable of the new standard for years, communication partners are still connected via CIDIN and X.25 networks.

However, with the recent inception of the IP-based Pan-European Network Service (PENS) the key element for a comprehensive and operational extension of AMHS in Europe was introduced.

Like ANg1, the majority of national message handling systems in Europe are of type AIDA-NG, providing the CFMU with a rich supply of potential candidates for further interoperability tests.

For further information, please visit our website at www.comsoft.aero or contact:
Gert Walter    Phone: +49 721 9497 – 1065 COMSOFT GmbH    gert.walter@comsoft.aero

Contact

Frequentis Comsoft GmbH
Wachhausstr. 5a
76227 Karlsruhe
Germany
  • +49 721 94 97 - 0