Exelis C4i, a business unit of Exelis Inc., has been awarded a contract extension by Airservices Australia to provide its voice communications system to six additional airports. This extension brings the number of Australian airports served by Exelis C4i to 27, with presence at all Australian capital city airports and 19 regional airports.

The Exelis C4i system, called SwitchplusIP Alarmon, integrates all airport voice communications for the Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) services and alarm and telemetry monitoring. The system also automates processes and procedures for responding to critical events faced by the ARFF at the airport. Providing this integrated emergency response coordination system reflects the Exelis commitment to extend leadership in the strategic growth area of critical networks.

“The system, when connected to the Airservices national network, provides a system of systems solution,” said Peter Harrison, managing director for Exelis C4i.  “The benefit of such application allows for resources at airports to enhance command and control capability which assists skilled personnel at the airports during an incident.”

The Alarmon product at each airport provides an integrated console, and the system has the capability for remote operators to log on as local operators. This enables all of the communications assets, local procedures, numbers and contact personnel to be available through the touch screen-based application as though the operators were physically at the remote location.  Information available includes radios, public address systems, telephony, mobile phones, and building fire alarms. The console enables monitoring of aircraft communications, ARFF communications for personnel and vehicles, monitoring of building fire alarms, control facilities, and true command and control capability to manage real-time emergency response events at airports.

Airservices Australia and Exelis C4i won the “Technical Achievement” award for Alarmon and its contribution to efficiency and safety at airports by the Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Working Group (ARFFWG) in 2010. ARFFWG is a nonprofit international organization dedicated to the sharing of ARFF information among airport firefighters, municipal fire departments, and all others concerned with aircraft fire fighting.