Frequentis has been contracted by Bahrain MTT Civil Aviation Affairs (BCAA) to modernise Bahrain International Airport’s voice communication infrastructure.

Bahrain International Airport is the Gulfs oldest airport and the nation’s gateway, managing over 100,000 flight movements per year and supporting over eight million passengers. The airport is currently undergoing an expansion that will increase its passenger capacity to 14 million, with the opening of the new passenger terminal scheduled for 2020. Bahrain airspace, which stretches from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Kuwait, also sees MTT CAA deal with over 600,000 overflights per year. The anticipated air traffic growth in the region requires BCAA to have a high performing, reliable and futureproof ATC communication system.

The area control centre (ACC) and airport towers at Bahrain International Airport will be equipped with the latest Frequentis VCS3020X, replacing the existing Frequentis system, which has been in use by MTT for over 15 years.

Frequentis has a long-standing history in Bahrain, having completed similar projects with the CAA, as well as multiple voice communications and recording systems for other Bahrain entities. The new system is scheduled to be delivered in 2020 and will be configured for 34 positions, supporting operations at the ACC, simulation room, main tower and emergency tower

“Frequentis is proud to be providing Bahrain MTT CAA with the latest voice communications technology and that CAA has entrusted us with the modernisation of its voice communication system and we look forward to continuing our successful long-term partnership,” said Hannu Juurakko, vice-president ATM Civil at Frequentis.

As a field-proven compact and fully duplicated end-to-end IP VCS, the VCS3020X system provides flexible integration of the existing analogue and digital radio infrastructure. The CAA will be able to manage all communications with a short air-ground delay while providing optimal voice quality. The fully redundant solution also comprises many interfaces to external systems. It is ready for future IP radio and telephone connectivity and complies to the ED-137B European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) standard.

VCS3020X is an end-to-end IP communication solution for air traffic management. Its robust and proven architecture brings great scalability and functionality and its wide array of workload sharing and networking capabilities makes it an excellent choice for any implementation of dynamic sectorisation or virtual air traffic control.

The VCS3020X will bring CAA an optimal air traffic control voice communication solution, together with rapid deployment and low total cost of ownership.