Unified Comms & Solo for Tactical Training
Customer
The U.S. Air Force (USAF)
Application
ASTi is providing unified voice comms for a live-range training application at the Air National Guard Base in Sioux Falls, SD. Operators assemble into red and blue teams that support aircraft engaged in tactical training, while additional white-cell referees enforce rules and safety measures. Thanks to Solo™, remote operators in Iowa can also participate in these exercises. This remote training site is the first of many to come, as the USAF hopes to expand connectivity to sites all over the country.
Sioux Falls Air National Guard
Challenges
&
Solutions
The challenge requirements are listed in blue; ASTi's applicable components are
Sioux Falls Air National Guard
Remote Operators
Provide the ability to communicate with remote operators in different states or even across the country.
In the past, server-based configurations limited trainees’ communication to onsite operators. Now all of that’s changed. Solo grants training applications like Sioux Falls more freedom and flexibility than ever before. Talk to anyone, anywhere—as long as they’re connected to the same network. Adding remote operators is easy: just install a Solo instance on a computer or tablet, connect it to the Voisus server’s network, and voilà! The remote operators are now part of the exercise.
Versatile Comms System
Provide a robust, yet adaptable system that can grow with the USAF’s needs.
Remote operators, shared assets, low-cost, and easy to configure: all of these factors converge to create a solution as flexible as it is dynamic. Voisus integrates diverse comms assets and provides streamlined access to a wide range of endpoints, including tactical radios, public or private telephones, cell phones, and computer workstations. Whatever the USAF needs, Voisus can provide, whether they want to expand the overall configuration, add more remote operators, or control the number of radios an operator can access. The USAF can even switch radio types as needed—not just URC-200s but a variety of VHF and UHF radios as well.
The Flex Client also offers customizable GUI layouts that the USAF can tweak to optimize workflow. They can rearrange button placement, choose specific button types (e.g., radios, intercoms, phone lines), or change the client’s color scheme. To learn more about the Flex Client’s capabilities, go to Flex Client.
Shared Assets
Provide a low-cost, reliable solution that allows trainees to share radios, leading to a smaller hardware footprint.
Instead of purchasing four radios for each of its six operators, Sioux Falls needed a system enabling everyone to communicate via the same assets. In response, ASTi provided each operator with a Flex Client installed on a touchscreen tablet. Now trainees can share the same four radios, and the USAF can avoid buying redundant, expensive hardware, plus all its associated cabling and antennas. To lower costs, ASTi also uses standard consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) tablets, USB speakers, microphones, and headsets, which are much less expensive than alternatives from the manufacturer.
24/7 Radio Recording
Provide a reliable, user-friendly recording system that can log and export all voice communication for incident investigation and after-action review.
The Comms Logger is a network-based system that continuously logs traffic from all communication assets to a RAID array. This single system simultaneously records thousands of endpoints on the network:
- Radio over Internet Protocol (RoIP)
- Network intercom
- Calling and conferencing
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
- Public telephone traffic
Access the Replay tool from a browser at any workstation on the network, making it easy to retrieve and review recordings.
