Eurofiber provides vital digital infrastructure for Air Traffic Control the Netherlands
Ultra-redundant network provides fully separated infrastructure that meets the highest security standards
Eurofiber has been commissioned by Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL) to lay new digital infrastructure between the Dutch airports where LVNL provides air traffic control services. This total solution includes construction, expansion and maintenance of the fiberoptic network that is the backbone of the new infrastructure for LVNL.
Fiberoptic connections were laid over a total distance of 560 kilometers to connect the ten LVNL locations to the Eurofiber core network. More than 25 kilometers of this involved excavation works to lay new fiberoptic cable. Capacity has been expanded to four fully separate 10 Gb/s DWDM routes, as needed to meet current and future requirements for reliability, speed and security. The new fiberoptic connections guarantee that all the applications that LVNL uses to safely guide all aircraft continue functioning optimally at all times. Before the new infrastructure was launched, this extensive project required the daily efforts of more than 50 engineers, network architects and other experts for 10 months.
Construction was handled by Eurofiber partners Spie and BAM Telecom, while monitoring and processing is arranged in partnership with Proximus NXT (formerly Telindus).
The requirements that LVNL defined for the robustness of the network, with the guarantee that it would always be up and running, resulted in Eurofiber building an ultra-redundant network for us, so we can be confident that it will always be available.
Ultra-redundant network
LVNL has been tasked with managing the civil airspace over the Netherlands and part of the North Sea. Any aircraft crossing Dutch airspace or planning to land at or take off from an airport in the Netherlands must be able to do so in the safest way possible. LVNL provides extremely safe and efficient 24/7 handling of the huge flow of incoming and outgoing air traffic to and from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and the regional airports elsewhere in the Netherlands. The new network delivered by Eurofiber is ultra redundant: four routes that are fully geographically separated. This extremely reliable network achieves a perfect balance between supreme availability, standardization and scalability, allowing seamless continuity in critical operations and enabling flexibility in handling current and future data flows.
Air Traffic Control the Netherlands is responsible for the safe handling of air traffic in the Netherlands, 24/7. A safe and reliable connection is essential to perform the high-impact job of air traffic controller properly, safely and efficiently. What air traffic controllers do is supported by a huge amount of technology and engineering, not only at Schiphol Airport but all across the Netherlands. That makes it incredibly important to ensure that the technology and IT always work. Massive amounts of data are transferred back and forth, and we cannot afford any mistakes; this is literally keeping all the air traffic in the air. It is vitally important to support aviation in this context.
Crucial Voice Communication System
The new nationwide network gives LVNL the ability to expand services to and from the region and guarantee continuity. This includes the Voice Communication System: the crucial voice link between the air traffic controller and the pilot of the aircraft. This VCS system is a safe, reliable connection which is being built centrally at Schiphol and rolled out for regional airports, thanks to the new network structure. This eliminates the need for a standalone local system. The availability of additional bandwidth creates space for new applications, such as Remote Tower, which will eventually make it possible to centralize air traffic control across several different airports.
LVNL selected Eurofiber as its preferred partner for one of the most prestigious contracts in the digital infrastructure market. Guaranteed availability of communications, navigation and positioning services is critically important in order to ensure safety and continuity of air traffic. This demands a highly critical network infrastructure with 100% availability. I am proud that Eurofiber was able to fulfill this vital infrastructure role for LVNL, and would like to thank everyone for the exceptional and excellent cooperation throughout the process.