Col-CC Voice System Migration During On-Going Operations

Abstract

Verbal coordination via voice loops is still an essential part of space operations. This is especially true for human space flight and even more for the highly distributed operations for the International Space Station (ISS). Coordination between on-board and ground and between all operations centres relays to a major extend on voice loops. Consequently the voice conferencing system is one of the most critical systems in a mission control centre. The Voice System (VoCS) of the Columbus Control Center (Col-CC) supports not only the Columbus operations done from Col-CC, but all European User Centres including the ATV Control Centre and supporting sites are connected via the Col-CC voice system to the International Partner systems/sites. This paper describes the complex migration to a new voice system at the Columbus Control-Centre (Col-CC) in 2011. This had to happen during the on-going ISS operations with minimal service impact. After a short overview of the general set-up of voice communications within the European ground segment and a summary of the reasons for exchanging the system after just about 6 years in operations is given. The different possible migration scenarios with their technical and perational impacts are discussed with the conclusion and explanation on the step-by-step approach chosen for this migration. Problems during the migration, dependencies to systems of other control centres as well as operational dependencies and planning issues are described. The step-by-step migration implied also a staggered testing and operational validation sequence. The testing had to be carefully planned and integrated in the migration steps. Operational validation had to be done during operations with roll-back possibilities rather then a final validation before a hand over to operations