The FAA’s chronic air traffic controller (ATC) shortage is well documented despite the agency’s efforts to ramp up hiring. A $40 million, 87,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Frederick, Maryland, could help it reallocate those sparse resources where they are needed most.
The FAA on Tuesday announced the groundbreaking of the new facility, which will build digital, internet-based voice switch systems designed to help controllers better communicate with pilots and other facilities. Per the agency’s website, one advantage of replacing aging, analog voice switches with modern systems will be “more dynamic operations,” such as reallocating controllers to different sectors without physically moving them.
“This equipment is a critical part of our landmark air traffic control modernization effort,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford in a statement. “The new facility supports our aggressive schedule to complete the new system by the end of 2028.”
The voice switch is an ATC’s main communication interface. About 450 of them allow controllers to communicate with pilots as well as other facilities by toggling between radio frequencies. Among operational voice switches, the oldest was installed in the 1990s, according to the FAA. The agency considers the technology safety and mission critical, forming the “backbone of aviation safety and the efficient flow of air traffic.”
Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) voice switches—which the FAA is installing nationwide at towers, en route centers, and terminal radar approach control (TRACON), and combined center radar approach control (CERAP) facilities—digitize verbal ATC communications. That would allow it to reallocate controllers to different sectors based on traffic levels, weather, or equipment outages without requiring physical movements.
The VoIP Communications Enterprise, or VoICE, is the component of the FAA’s ATC modernization effort tasked with phasing out legacy voice switches for the more modern VoIP systems. It is spearheaded by the FAA’s Voice Switch and Recorder (VS&R) Program Office.
VoICE is also installing air-to-ground protocols (APCs) that will replace older radio control equipment (RCE) units and are designed to interface with both legacy and VoIP systems. National Airspace System (NAS) voice recorders (NVRs)—which resemble an aircraft’s black box but are located on the ground—will replace Digital Audio Legal Recorder (DALR) systems at all ATC facilities to provide improved access to recorded conversations between ATCs, pilots, and facilities, while also raising recording capacity
At the same time, the FAA is sustaining legacy systems that have not yet been replaced.
Progress Report
On Tuesday, the FAA said it had installed 176 IP-based voice switches out of about 450 planned installations. It aims to complete them before the end of President Donald Trump’s second term.
“We’re making sure our air traffic control system is American made,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in the announcement.
The FAA in April awarded a nearly $5 billion contract to Rohde & Schwarz USA, the American subsidiary of a German electronics manufacturer, to replace legacy voice switches with its Certium voice communication system (VCS). Certium replaces buttons on a switchboard with digital interfaces, color-coded to show the status of different radios, their signal strength, and the number of controllers using them.
The phaseout is being conducted in three “waves.” Wave 1, which the FAA said was recently completed, comprised installations at about 140 small towers that it said have the “least complex operations.” Rohde & Schwarz in April said Certium was also installed at airports in Texas, Delaware, Idaho, and Washington state. The opening of its new Maryland facility may help it accelerate the effort.
Wave 2 of the transition will cover about 250 medium-sized terminal facilities with “more complex operations.” The third and final wave will see deployments to FAA Core 30 airports, CERAP facilities, Tier 1 terminals, and en route centers with the “most complex operations.”
The ATC modernization effort also aims to replace or upgrade hundreds of radios, radars, and other equipment. The FAA said Tuesday that it has converted 63 percent of copper wiring that feeds data to ATC facilities to high-speed fiber, 5G wireless, or satellite connections.
In addition, it said 388 of 1,581 planned radio sites have been converted, and surface awareness initiative (SAI) systems have been installed at 96 out of 220 planned towers. Another 21 towers have transitioned from paper to electronic flight strips, and nine have received new tower simulation systems for training.