COFFEE
According to the Commission Regulation (EC) 633/2007,
all European Air Traffic Management (EATM) systems will be obliged to manage their On-Line Data Interchange (OLDI) applying the FMTP/IPv6 protocol by April 2011. Many current OLDI implementations, however, still operate on the previous FDE-ICD specification which is incompatible with the FMTP specifications.
COFFEE bridges the gap between FMTP TCP/IP-based and FDE-ICD X.25-based OLDI message exchange. Resolving the conflicts between these message formats, the gateway converts OLDI messages between the FMTP and FDE-ICD format, thus enabling transparent end-to-end communication between OLDI systems.

As COFFEE is based on COMSOFT’s universal gateway and messaging technology, it is the optimum approach to address the ANSP’s need to connect existing OLDI applications to IPv4 and IPv6 networks at low risk for budget, schedule and flight safety.

• Full support of FMTP via IPv4 and IPv6
• Parallel operation of IPv4 and IPv6
• FMTP conformance tests with ETIC release 3.2.2 successfully passed
• Full support of FDE-ICD Part 1 via X.25
• Single and redundant deployment
• Fully automated operation without need for operator intervention
• Support of SNMP-based management
• User-friendly configuration via graphical user interface
• First installations performed and in operation

Migration activities in safety-relevant environments have to be thoroughly planned and tested. In order to support the migration of OLDI systems to FMTP, COFFEE provides the functionality to feed copies of live OLDI traffic into OLDI systems undergoing respective test runs.

Additionally, the gateway can be configured to simulate the OLDI protocol behaviour of a partner for those systems under test. Thus, COFFEE helps to validate OLDI/FMTP system operations in a simulated live OLDI/FMTP environment.

The core components of the gateway are the FMTP protocol stacks, the FDE-ICD Part 1 protocol stack, and the message conversion application as depicted below.

COFFEE is based on up-to-date COTS servers and benefits from the stability of a powerful LINUX operating system. The gateway’s protocol stacks and application software are derived from the market-leading message handling system AIDA-NG which in turn is COMSOFT’s implementation of EUROCONTROL’s EATM Communications Gateway (ECG). Thus it inherits
AIDA-NG’s unmatched stability and availability and makes the gateway best-suited for operations in safety-critical aeronautical center environments.

The FMTP part of the gateway employs the functional variety and security of the Linux TCP/IP protocol stack, in particular it supports cutting-edge IPv4 and IPv6 functionality. Serial X.25 connections are provided in COMSOFT’s proven Serial Network Link technology which has demonstrated its high performance and reliability in numerous surveillance and aeronautical messaging networks worldwide.

COFFEE performs the protocol handling and OLDI message conversion in a fully automated way. It has an HMI with a high level of usability for configuration purposes and graphical gateway/connection status display. In addition, an SNMP MIB allows the seamless integration of the gateway monitoring and control into an existing network management system.