Introduction
Sunhillo has a long history of interfacing radars systems within the FAA and DoD, but it is Sunhillo’s portfolio of serial-to-IP products (RICI, Ventnor and Longport) that provide the bridge between dissimilar systems such as radars and Air Traffic Management (ATM) Automation systems. These products allow a large variety of data formats to be converted, processed, and displayed for a common air picture.
Historically, radars have used multi-channel serial connections to ingest this data and distribute it to required consumers. Serial connections have survived decades as a fundamental communication path for radar data and other FAA protocols. Using TDM, or Time Division Multiplexing, provides multiple channels of data across a single T1 line. T1 lines have been leased by the FAA for many years to accommodate this conveyance of the data necessary to sustain operations of our national airspace, however, this technology has reached life cycle maturity and has become more costly to maintain. The FAA Fiscal Year 2025 Budget submission has an allocation of funds requested for the Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM)-to-Internet Protocol (IP) migration to move away from the aging, and now costly, TDM infrastructure with modern broadband IP-based technology for long haul connections (building to building).
