Voice for the defense: needing to replace its legacy crash-and-alarm system, Hurlburt Air Force Base chose new teleconferencing technology

Communications News, June, 2004

Hurlburt Air Force Base in Florida is the first of many U.S. defense locations needing to replace primary aircraft crash-and-alarm systems (PCAS) and secondary crash networks. Like many other Department of Defense locations, it was using a highly functional legacy system that required extensive maintenance--and was ready for replacement.

"The equipment was not supportable, parts were not available and it was unreliable," says Don Larson, senior engineer at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. As the engineer responsible for creating objectives and project needs for telephone upgrades for the Air Force and Marine Corps, he was under the gun to find a workable solution.

"We started getting requests for crash alarm systems that our team had never done before," Larson explains. "Our people thought it was outside of our range. It was causing maintenance problems at many bases. We figured we needed to find out what was available."

"Having a system that is operational any time and every time we need it is most important," says Richard Jones, project manager for Hurlburt AFB critical response communications. "Command-and-control capability is paramount in our business."

"As far as crash alarms, there hasn't been any new technology until now," according to Larson. "One of our Air Force locations was looking at a crash alarm system costing over $100,000. You don't want to pay that kind of money, but there are not a lot of viable alternatives out there. We had to find something now."

The primary goal of any emergency collaboration system is to instantly connect key personnel. Emergency communication technology has made quantum leaps from the Civil Defense sirens and programs of more than 50 years ago. Today, governments are focusing more dollars on convergence and next-generation networks for their communications infrastructure, as they replace old technology with reliable, expandable and supportable solutions.

LIMITATIONS PROVE CRITICAL

If a system has limitations, those become even more critical as an emergency situation becomes more critical, explains Larson. With disruptive sounds and distractions at the hot site, sound clarity on emergency calls is essential for accurate communications, as are ease of use and reliability.

At all Air Force and Department of Defense bases, the PCAS is used to instantly connect operations, management and first responders in the event of any emergency watch or warning. Emergency communication solutions come under many names, like find-me function, blast dDial, instant conferencing, alarm system, immediate teleconferencing, red phones, firebar, crash system or alert system.

Larson began his search for an updated conferencing system online. The search spread through personal contacts at the Air Force Flight Safety Agency and through Air Force system integrators, including General Dynamics.

Larson connected with Forum Communications International at a General Dynamics partnership conference last year. He found that Forum was developing its own crash system, the CONFER ECS (Emergency Collaboration System) and the CONFER A.L.E.R.T. (Advanced Localized Emergency Response Teleconferencing) system.

Charles Townsend of General Dynamics, and a special projects engineer at Hill AFB, assisted Larson in understanding the Air Force technical requirements and translated them into specifications and test requirements, for the new PCAS solution. His priorities included: space limitations, ease of use, touch screen commands, remote viewing status, superior sound quality and durability.

With additional research, and detailed review and testing of new technology and prototypes, Townsend recommended the CONFER A.L.E.R.T. with the CONFER ECS for the Air Force needs. Integrated logistics support, reliability and minimal dependence on PBX/networks systems were high priorities.

Other technologies provided some of the requirements but needed multiple computer systems, or had limitations about how many phones could ring at one time. Another solution utilized ring-back circuits but could not eliminate ongoing ringing, and those distractions cost precious seconds on every call. Townsend specifically recommended the conferencing solution because it is self-contained and not dependent on PBX/network systems.

REDUNDANCY FEATURE ESSENTIAL

The Forum system integrates independent ring generators, touch screen control and a space-saving graphical user interface (GUI)--for system status, station selection and dial-out initiation--with the ECS platform. When officials determined that the system met all Air Force instructions and contract specifications, Ogden Air Logistics in Utah approved the technical functionality and authorized installation. Airfield management personnel were able to adapt immediately to the cutover and maintain critical emergency communications.

An essential benefit of the new system, according to Larson, is its multiple levels of redundancy. Should an issue occur with the tower/base operations primary phone connection, the system has three levels of immediate redundancy: