Complex Mission Critical Communications are a cornerstone of the Aviation Industry. Efficient, effective, and failsafe communications are essential to ensure that vital information is relayed between the wide variety of departments required to keep busy travel and shipping hubs running on schedule. From flight and ground crews, to security and customs, to air traffic control and airline communication, to customer service and logistics, there are nearly countless requirements for seemingly unrelated departments to communicate effectively with each other. The need to deliver information interdepartmentally with confidence can mean the difference between success and disaster. Here are three key essentials to ensure you keep your system functioning optimally:

1. An Accurate Archive: With the communications congestion surrounding modern aviation, it is important to ensure that your two-way radio communications are properly archived. Assigned frequencies, talk groups, and channels need to be mapped and tied to each individual radio to ensure each team member has access to the proper communication tools and information they require, and can reach the key contacts associated with their position without interfering in channels unrelated to their duties.
2. Routine Maintenance and Inspection: Much like the airplanes themselves, communications equipment requires preventative maintenance and clearly defined protocols in the case of malfunctions. Taking preventative measures is essential to ensuring the safety and efficiency of the complex communications strategies Aviation requires.
3. Service Ticketing System: A service ticketing system is essential to maintain a complex communications system. Each individual piece of equipment can contain mission critical, secure information and frequencies. When a ticketing system is tied to an effective archive, individual radios can be tracked and monitored through the service process, ensuring that if they require service, programming, or replacement, that the proper information will end up on the proper radio. An effective ticketing system also provides tracking capabilities, real time status updates, as well as a centralization of information related to requests involving a specific piece of equipment.

Whether involved in aviation, or any business that requires mission critical communications, these three tips can ensure your enterprise continues to run smoothly, even when circumstances conspire against you. A responsible integrator like Westcan ACS will already have these elements in place, to ensure your communications remain functional and effective. Until next time.