comsoft asterix

History of ASTERIXa Part of Comsoft’s HistoryASTERIX was originally specified inthe late eighties within the contextof the 4-State Integration Programbetween Belgium, Germany, Luxembourgand the Netherlands. Today itis a major cornerstone of the EATM(Programme for Performance Enhancementin European Air TrafficManagement) a program which hasthe ultimate goal of establishinga homogeneous European ATCinfrastructure.In 1989 COMSOFT, German ATCsystems provider, was awarded thecontract for the world's first implementationof ASTERIX. This includedthe development of an RMCDE(Radar Message Conversion &Distribution Equipment), as well asthe development and installation ofthe RADNET (Radar Data DistributionNetwork) based on RMCDEs. Fromthe beginning the RMCDE wasdevised as a native ASTERIX engine.Over the years COMSOFT has builtup a network of around thirty nodes,with ASTERIX as the unique internalformat used.Being the first company to implementASTERIX, COMSOFT has withtime gathered incomparable expertisein the practical use of the format.Up to now the company has implementedclose to 30 conversions fromand to other radar data formats.Today COMSOFT can offer a largespectrum of ASTERIX systems andtools, belonging to the mostmature solutions on the market.In 1998, COMSOFT's RAPS-IIproduct underwent an EUROCONTROLqualification process to attest itseligibility as a universal ASTERIX TestTool and Reference Product. In 2003the qualification was renewed, nowcovering also all Mode S, ADS,Ground Surveillance and new ARTASdata categories. With the qualificationof an ASTERIX tool, COMSOFThas again broken new ground in thesurveillance sector, being the firstcompany world-wide to demonstratethe required ASTERIX maturity level.COMSOFT Systems & theirASTERIX FunctionalityASTERIX Products & SolutionsCOMSOFT provides a large range of native ASTERIX-processingsystems and tools for many domains of air traffic control.All products are based on an open, modular architecture andincorporate today's forefront technology.RAPS-II(Radar Analysis, Playback &Simulation System for SurveillanceData) is a powerful technical monitoringtool for ATC, supportingASTERIX and many other surveillancedata formats and protocols. Theportable system allows simultaneousrecording and replay of several livesurveillance data streams and comprisesa comprehensive set offeatures for ASTERIX analysis, userdefinedfiltering, processing, visualizationand test data generation.It also includes an assortmentof ASTERIX validation and qualitymonitoring features, provides anASTERIX editor and an ASTERIXsimulator. RAPS-II has many timesproven an indispensable tool forintegration testing, acceptancetesting and day-to-day technicalmonitoring. RAPS-II is today theworld's first EUROCONTROLqualifiedASTERIX ReferenceProduct and Test Tool.RAPS-II