VoIP Gateways

Quintron Systems, Inc recently announced that it will be providing NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) with the technology upgrade required for expanding to DICES VoIP. DFCE has been using Quintron DICES product line for more than 2 decades now. Quintron is a leading provider of interoperable Enterprise-Class Systems for Security Command, Control & Communications.

In a release, David Wilhite, president and chief operating officer at Quintron said, “Quintron has a long-standing and very successful partnership with Dryden, going back to actual hands-on site technical support starting in 1981 and with initial installation of a DICES system in 1990. So this selection to move their voice system into the 21st century with DICES VoIP was a welcome announcement. We look forward to continuing our teamwork for many more years to come.”

The new IP-based system rollout will feature an innovative user station design which allows easy direct-fit replacement of the older DICES stations. This will negate the need for expensive and complex reconfiguration of the mission control room consoles at DFRC. The system will also feature three touch screen panels which enhance user features included in the DICES VoIP system; the circuitry and connectors will allow DFRC to continue using the legacy headsets currently in use.

The new DICES VoIP Soft Client will allow easy access to select mission audio via IP links with customer-supplied computer work stations which in certain cases are deployed in remote operating regions.

Furthermore, the system allows pre-defining of select user station position configurations which can be downloaded directly to the user positions. This can be done without the need for log-in and other types of user interaction thus offering better centralized management which is essential in mixed-community missions; this will also allow greater turnaround support for mission changeovers.

The new system rollout will retain all the important DICES capabilities of the older system. DICES VoIP can support a number of independent operating segments which means the four main DFRC control rooms will now allow individual management anytime simultaneous missions are taking place. The four DFRC mission control rooms will be supported by two independent central servers. Common information will be supported between the servers by database replication services which means each server can take on the load of the other anytime the high-availability servers go down.