March 2017 – Hardly any control room application is as sensitive as air traffic control. For their responsible tasks, air traffic controllers rely on computer-assisted structures in the background. These systems, however, must be 100 per cent safe, robust and designed for around-the-clock operation. KVM technology has become an integral part of IT infrastructures. It extends and switches computer signals thus allowing the remote operation of computer technology or the real-time access to several computers.

Over the last decades, the German KVM manufacturer Guntermann & Drunck GmbH (G&D) has always put a special focus on ATC applications. The long-standing cooperation with many well-known ANSPs resulted in the development of many KVM products and features specifically tailored to the requirements of the ATC industry with uncompressed or compressed data transmission at full performance and best video resolutions up to 4K and 8K at 60 Hz.

The KVM extender DP1.2-VisionXG extends computer signals via optical fibres at a distance of up to 10,000 m and provides uncompressed, loss-free and latency-free data transfer pixel by pixel for best hand-eye coordination. The dedicated transmission via optical fibres offers sufficient bandwidth for the uncompressed and pixel-perfect transmission of 4K and 8K videos at 60Hz as well as for keyboard/mouse, RS232, USB2.0 and audio signals.

With a high-resolution 4K screen, the workstation can be configured to have a single large monitor that displays multiple ATC applications in different image segments. Thus controllers can concentrate on a single contiguous area and are not distracted by visible monitor frames. Even high-resolution 8K applications are displayed via four video channels without any loss or latency. Due to the source synchronisation of the video channels, even highest video resolutions can be extended over long distances. The high performance system is reliable and best suitable for continuous operation due to its redundant power supply. Mission-critical features such as the screen freeze function, the monitoring function, SNMP and two network interfaces support technicians and ATCOs in their work.

Like all KVM extenders from G&D, the CPU module of the new DP1.2-VisionXG provides an interface to connect a local workstation, which can be used to record images required for the documentation of air traffic. This also provides legal certainty in case of doubt. Since the images are not compressed when transmitted, the image data transmitted to the workstation corresponds exactly to what is recorded on the computer. The recording therefore also exactly matches the information of the controller.

G&D has introduced another new product – DP1.2-MUX3-ATC. The KVM switch lets ATCOs operate up to three computers from one workstation (e.g. primary, redundancy and fallback system). The compression-free system allows extremely fast switching between computers. On top of this, it is possible to install redundancy and fallback systems running parallel to the primary system. The high-performance system supports 4K solutions at 60 Hz and is specially designed to cater to the needs of the ATC industry, meaning it provides reliable 24/7 operation at full performance.

G&D’s portfolio also includes a whole range of 4K products, such as the KVM switches DP1.2-MUX, DP-MUX and DL-MUX or the extender systems DP1.2-VisonXG, DL-Vision and DP1.2-Vision. The latter uses the improved, in-house HDIP compression technology in the latest development stage, Level 3. This compression mode allows the loss-free transmission of video signals with a resolution of 4K at 60Hz. DP1.2-Vision is fully compatible with digital matrix switches such as the ControlCenter-Digital and the new ControlCenter-Compact, allowing not only the extension, but also the distributed switching of 4K video by matrix switches and is therefore, the ideal solution for the remote operation of multiple computers via various, simultaneous workstations. Following G&D’s principle of mix and match, all products as well as their variants are compatible and can be combined with each other.

With G&D's high-performance KVM systems, computers can easily be moved out of towers and control rooms and security-relevant concepts can be established. Disturbances such as developing noise and waste heat are banished from the immediate work environment. At the same time, ATCOs benefit from more space, efficiency and a clearly-arranged workplace while technicians are able to administrate the system from the server room instead of having to disturb the ATCOs in their important tasks.

The long-term commitment of G&D to the ATC sector puts the company in a position to develop the best possible products and functionalities specifically for ANSPs. G&D currently offers the broadest KVM portfolio on the market – also thanks to the new IP systems. Within this portfolio, there are almost no limits of combining the systems.