NAV CANADA provides air traffic control (ATC) and related services for Canadian domestic and international airspace, and uses long haul, beyond-the-horizon communications to aircraft flying in northern Canada and flights to and from Europe over the North Atlantic Ocean. After extensive supplier evaluation, NAV CANADA awarded Rohde & Schwarz a contract to supply 17 HF transmitter systems that provide an output power of four kilowatts (kW) for voice communications in its North Atlantic region. International flights use HF bands routinely for voice communications, since HF covers much larger distances.
The HF system being introduced is a part of the R&S M3SR Series 4100 software defined radio (SDR) family, specifically the R&S XK 4100 SDRs. It is also equipped with the new ED137 IP interface. These radios follow the requirements of the international standard EUROCAE ED137 for Voice-over-IP (VoIP) Air Traffic Management (ATM) applications. Deliveries will take place 2019 to 2020 and be operational that same year.
