Advanced Simulation Technology inc. (ASTi) is pleased to announce a major upgrade to the Simulated Environment for Realistic ATC (SERA) product line with the introduction of a completely new aviation English-focused, text-to-speech (TTS) solution. This new TTS engine will lie at the core of its SERA simulated ATC environment (SATCE) and its aviation English language training tool, Pilot Phraseology Trainer (Pilot PT).
ATC radio communication involves a unique and highly stylized dialect, its cadence and flow lending an important signature to the pilot experience. This already challenging environment is further complicated because a high proportion of participants are nonnative English speakers. This is the reality in commercial aviation, no matter the pilot's location when he or she puts on a headset.
The primary training tool for pilots is the flight simulator, designed to mimic the exact same behaviors per the aircraft, with incredible fidelity imagery looking out of the cockpit windshield and, in a full-flight simulator (FFS), motion that replicates the crew’s full experience. However, place the headset on your head in a flight simulator, and what do you hear? At best an instructor, sitting in the back of the simulator cabin pretending to be an ATC controller and perhaps a synthetic Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) message relaying the weather for the local airport.
ASTi's SERA and other SATCE systems now fill the radio environment with synthetic controllers and pilots, all communicating as they do in the real world. The other traffic aircraft are also visible in out the window and on cockpit displays. While this level of immersion raises the cockpit workload to match the real world, until now, one piece of the simulation puzzle was left lacking: these synthetic pilots and controllers sounded fake.
ASTi's new TTS engine fixes this with high-fidelity pilot and controller radio voices filling the radio waves and closing the gap between simulation and reality. It allows every simulation with SERA to feature that cadence and phrasing from the real world, reinforcing correct ATC phraseology throughout every phase of flight. The system offers more than 20 different voices, with more to be added to future SERA releases, including accented English voices covering the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
Any class of flight simulator, from the most basic virtual reality device, all the way up to the latest state-of-the-art, Level D FFS, will benefit from the inclusion of SERA. Radio communications training is no longer an afterthought, and all of SERA’s radio calls now have the cadence and phrasing of the real world, acting to reinforce correct phraseology through every phase of flight.
Contact ASTi at info@seraatc.com for more information or to arrange a demonstration.
About ASTi
ASTi is the leading supplier of communications, automated ATC, and sound systems to the training and simulation industry. ASTi meets FAA, EASA, and equivalent Level D qualifications with simulators around the world. Since 1989, ASTi has fielded over 11,000 systems at more than 800 installation sites in the US and 49 other countries. To learn more about ASTi, visit asti-usa.com.