Voice over Internet Protocol – going global for aviation

Several key milestones on the way to global Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in ATM deployment have been passed, reports VOTE, the VoIP Implementation and Transition Expert Group set up by EUROCONTROL in 2010, at VOTE’s 20^th meeting in Biarritz last month.

We have been leading the way in VoIP for ATM through VOTE and the product VOTER, an ATM test suite that facilitates timely, multi-vendor VoIP implementation, and is now used worldwide. VoIP is important for aviation, offering the possibility to cut deployment and usage costs, foster innovation and raise interoperability.

Overall, VoIP implementation is going well, VOTE concluded, with a number of key developments:

• the successful validation of the latest version of the standard (ED-137C) in international fora (FAA VoIP Interoperability Event, held in June 2019)
• continuous support for the full integration of  VoIP into ATM (ED-137C) latest version into ICAO DOC 9896 – the Manual on the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) using Internet Protocol Suite (IPS) Standards and Protocol
• the completion of VoIP Security Implementation Guidance, following widespread consultation. 
• the VoIP Implementation guidance advancement for SIP.

VOTE#20 also saw participants decide to develop additional implementation guidance on the use of Session Border Controllers (SBCs) to further the use of VoIP in the ATM community, by ANSPs and in NewPENS.

Looking to the future, VOTE reiterated its active support for VoIP – one of the first safety-critical Aviation Global Standards, and the use of the VOTER test suite. In Europe, VoIP is under deployment with Final Operational Capabilities planned for 2022 in an en-route environment, and by 2024 at airports and terminals.