Siemens Achieves Important Milestone to Support AeroMACS Development

WiMAX Forum Celebrates Momentum Towards AeroMACS Certification

The WiMAX Forum®, the leading organization that certifies and promotes the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon IEEE Standard 802.16, is proud to announce an ecosystem progress towards WiMAX Forum Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communication System (AeroMACS) Certification with the notice to the market that Siemens has successfully completed both Protocol Conformance Testing (PCT) and Radio Conformance Testing (RCT) certification phases at the Powertech labs.

“Siemens has delivered and assisted in making operational a number of systems that are operating in the AeroMACS frequency band around the world today”, said Jim Slinowsky, Vice President of Product Management for Siemens RUGGEDCOM products. “Achieving these two major certification milestones, with the help of the WiMAX forum and Powertech Labs, is the fulfillment of promises we made to these customers and demonstrates the commitment Siemens has to supporting the roll out of AeroMACS technology to support enhanced safety and regularity of flight operations.”

This is continuing evidence of the importance the manufacturing and user community places upon AeroMACS certification and another milestone achievement as the complete ecosystem of manufacturers pushes forward to complete certification (Interoperability Testing (IOT), PCT and RCT) of multiple products by a variety of manufacturers at the AeroMACS PlugFest expected to be held in the first half of 2019.

Said Eugene Crozier, Certification Lead AeroMACS, Powertech Labs Inc., “Siemens achievement represents a positive step towards the complete WiMAX Forum AeroMACS Certification. We are looking forward to a successful AeroMACS PlugFest this year with the participation from multiple AeroMACS equipment suppliers to conduct an extensive series of tests and showcase interoperability across a number of different applications.”

At the AeroMACS PlugFest, AeroMACS vendors from around the world will conduct rigorous hands-on interoperability, security and performance testing of their leading-edge AeroMACS equipment. Through a complete set of required testing the manufacturers will demonstrate that their AeroMACS equipment are interoperable and secure across multiple devices from different manufacturers and in compliance with strict international conformance standards and profiles developed by European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA).

“This is an important milestone for AeroMACS, Siemens, WiMAX Forum and the Aviation Industry,” said Declan Byrne, WiMAX Forum President. “It demonstrates the successful collaboration for over decade between AeroMACS equipment vendors and aviation industry which has created a new networking technology based on IEEE 802.16 to improve communications on the airport surface by providing increased transmission of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Airline Operations Communications (AOC) to relieve traffic, congestions, and delays, and to support the safety and regularity of flight.”

AeroMACS has been adopted as a wireless broadband technology that supports the increasing need for data communications and information sharing on the airport surface for both fixed and mobile applications. It operates in the protected and licensed aviation spectrum band from 5091 MHz to 5150 MHz, designated on a worldwide basis by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to support the increasing need for data communications and information sharing enabling ground-to-aircraft communications through hundreds of fixed and mobile applications. AeroMACS is internationally standardized, globally harmonized and provides scalable model for the aviation industry.

The WiMAX Forum, its member companies and industry experts are attending and participating in the ICNS Conference this week on April 9-11, 2019 at Westin Washington Dulles Airport in Herndon, Virginia with a series of AeroMACS presentations. For more information, please visit: ICNS Conference 2019.

For questions regarding AeroMACS or the WiMAX Forum, please contact Alessandra Rocha at [email protected].

About the WiMAX Forum
The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization that certifies and promotes the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon IEEE Standard 802.16. The WiMAX Forum’s primary goal is to accelerate the adoption, deployment and expansion of WiMAX, AeroMACS, and WiGRID technologies across the globe while facilitating roaming agreements, sharing best practices within our membership and certifying products. WiMAX Forum and WiGRID Certified® products are interoperable and support broadband fixed, nomadic, portable, and mobile services. The WiMAX Forum works closely with service providers and regulators to ensure that WiMAX Forum Certified systems meet customer and government requirements. For more information, visit www.wimaxforum.org.