The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has successfully deployed two Jotron high-powered very high frequency (VHF) long-range communication radios, each installed in Lagos West and Lagos East Area Control Centres (ACCs).
NAMA explained that the this was in line with its earlier pledge to address Remote Control Air to Ground (RCAG) communication challenges in the nation’s upper airspace.
A statement signed by Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, the Managing Director, NAMA, said that the installation of the equipment, which began a few weeks ago culminated in the successful Site Acceptance Test (SAT) carried out the agency’s engineers in conjunction with their counterparts from Jotron AS, Norway.
Akinkuotu said in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations, it was incumbent on Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) like NAMA to facilitate safe airways, safe separations and also provide critical fall-back plans for airspace users.
He described the stand-alone radios as a robust solution for emergency/backup coverage in unexpected circumstances like when there was technical failure or during routine maintenance of the main RCAG system.
Akinkuotu said the high-powered VHF radios were designed to provide cover for Lagos en-route East using 127.3MHZ and Lagos en-route West using 120.9MHZ. Similarly, emphasising that the radios would provide VHF back-up for Kano en-route-East (124.1MHZ) and Kano en-route West (128.5MHZ).
The stand-alone facility according to the NAMA boss was fully self-sufficient, independent of existing VSAT, local voice switch (VCCS) and was inclusive of its own integrated power supplies to cover an eight-hour emergency communication window should a total power outage occur.
He said: “Test transmission has been conducted on the system by air traffic control officers with aircraft flying at different flight levels just as contacts have been established for a distance of up to 220 nautical miles at different flying levels of the upper airspace and this conforms with the VHF propagation predictions submitted for scrutiny during the design phase of the project.
“Basically, the stand-alone VHF radio ensures 24/7 Air Traffic Control (ATC) availability in the event of either a VSAT link failure or some other significant VHF communication loss.”
Akinkuotu also noted that installation work for that of Kano West and Kano East ACCs was ongoing even as he disclosed plans by the agency to install repeater stations in strategic locations to extend the range of the radio systems under the second phase of the project.
Also speaking, Roger Svendsen, the Project Manager, Jotron AS, said the back-up communication system had proved to be highly reliable and efficient in African countries like Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Namibia as well as in Europe and South America.
He insisted that the clarity of the radios had remained unmatched worldwide
