A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/536025
NAS VOICE SYSTEM N V S 12 NextGen Now | Summer 2015 The National Airspace System Voice System (NVS) can accommodate all legacy resources. But at its core, this is a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system. Harris Corporation developed the system to support the operational needs of controllers. The system does not rely on point-to-point connections with neighboring facilities. Instead, users will be able to call whomever they need to, whenever they need to. NVS is designed to support tower, TRACON, and en route facilities, and brings some of best features of legacy voice-switching systems to all sites. It incorporates and improves upon both the air-to-ground and ground-to-ground voice functions controllers rely on today. NVS Program Office participants just returned from a trip to the three Seattle key sites — Seattle Tower (SEA), Seattle TRACON (S46), and Seattle Center (ZSE) in May 2015. They provided an overview of NVS and gave briefings on human factors, testing, and implementation. The facilities engaged in discussions regarding their participation in near and long-term operation test activities on-site and at the William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC) in Atlantic City. The NVS Air Traffic User Team has two upcoming trips planned to Harris Corporation in Melbourne, Fla., to look at prototypes for the touch entry displays (TED). In addition to looking at the prototype displays, the user team will work on aspects of the Position User Interface (PUI) such as colors, layout, and font sizes. The next air traffic early user involvement event (EUIE) is scheduled for October this year at the WJHTC. The air traffic user team will be evaluating the latest software update, which is providing significant changes to the PUI. Most changes are a result of the recommendations from the last air traffic EUIE that was conducted in April 2014. This will be the team's first opportunity to see their recommendations on a live system. NVS is currently on schedule to be fielded at SEA, S46, and ZSE in fiscal year 2018.