AEDC workers find cost-saving fix for "Giant Voice"

  • Published
  • By Patrick Ary
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  You could say the "Giant Voice" that sends messages across Arnold Engineering Development Center has been suffering a case of laryngitis over the last couple of months.

Now, base workers have installed their own cure for it that also resulted in savings for AEDC.

Some may have noticed the base Mass Notification system's public address messages have been quieter in the last few weeks. This has to do with the type of software that's being used to send those messages.

Several months ago the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) directed the installation of AtHoc, a software modification to the notification system that would allow free-formatted messages to be broadcast to the base population. The system will be the standard for all AFMC bases.

Up until the update, the Operations Center had only a limited number of prerecorded messages they could send out, according to project manager Stephen George. With the new system, they have the flexibility to send out messages that better fit the situation.

Base technicians gave the AtHoc vendor all the information they needed to switch the Giant Voice system over to the new interface. But once AtHoc workers finished with the installation, George said AEDC technicians noticed some messages were going out to siren units at half the expected volume.

Working with the company to fix the problem didn't result in an acceptable solution, George said. When AtHoc said they didn't know what the problem was, workers at AEDC started looking at the rest of the communications system and found the problem.

"After some research we discovered that AtHoc didn't take into account the system is narrow-banded, which meant the system couldn't pass the audio at an acceptable level," George said.

After further troubleshooting instrument technician Brent DeSalvo discovered the problem was in the UHF radios installed in the siren units. The radios are limited in audio output because of Federal Communications Commission requirements.

DeSalvo decided to test a narrow-band radio that used VHF frequencies, and George said testing determined that the VHF narrow band would output the volume at an acceptable level. After that it was just a matter of getting the new equipment and taking the system offline Dec. 3-4 to install it in building units and pole-mounted units.

External vendor quotes to achieve acceptable volume levels came in at more than $100,000. The solution implemented by the radio shop was only $16,000.

George says the problem never should have gotten as far as it did, but workers at AEDC did a good job responding to the issue.

"Our guys did something they shouldn't have to do," he said. "Our guys basically figured out there's an interface problem from a downward-directed system, and we figured out what that problem was and fixed it ourselves."

Now that the system is running, the Operations Center has the flexibility to use the Mass Notification system for ad hoc "Giant Voice" addresses.

"It is a good thing," George said, "and it is a good fix by our folks."