September 23, 2008

**CHANNEL BANK MARKET SURVEY QUESTIONS FROM INDUSTRY**

Regarding FAA Market Survey Question 2: C*onsidering the requirements of
section 3.1.5 (Automatic Protection Switching) and 3.2.1 with the
potential for multiple T1 interfaces per Trunk Interface, how does the
equipment handle multiple Channel Banks on different T1s being
provisioned to a single Channel Bank and Automatic Protection
Switching?*

1.  Define Automatic Protection Switching. Is this a hot standby PRI/SEC
    T1 facilities protection scheme or can the alternate path T1
    facilities be electrical off? Is it 1:1 protection or 1:N
    protection?

> [FAA Response:]{.underline} As a clarification for this requirement,
> the availability requirement for the proposed solution must justify
> whether the Channel Bank has board level redundancy or port level
> redundancy on a single board. Automatic Protection Switching is
> defined in section 3.1.5 and is not specified as either 1:1 or 1:N. As
> long as all requirements are met, any configuration is available.
> Please provide additional information that would warrant one approach
> over the other.

2.  Regarding FAA Market Survey Question 5:*Can the Channel Bank be
    configured with the following Service/Channel Interfaces? Please
    provide information as to how the Channel Bank will achieve the
    following 5 configurations:*

  --------------- ----------------------- -------------------------------
  CONFIG          CARD TYPE               SERVICE CHANNEL INTERFACES

  1               E & M                   13

                  FXO / FXS               2

  2               E & M                   19

                  FXO / FXS               2

  3               E & M                   21

                  FXO / FXS               2

  4               E & M                   2

                  FXO / FXS               2

  5               E & M                   5

                  FXO / FXS               2

                  RS 530 @ 128k BW        1
  --------------- ----------------------- -------------------------------

**CHANNEL BANK MARKET SURVEY QUESTIONS FROM INDUSTRY**

> Define which specific analogue interface is required for each of the
> five CONFIG types; FXO or FXS.
>
> [FAA Response:]{.underline} The selection of FXO or FXS cards within
> the 5 Channel Bank configurations is dependent on card
> interchangeability. The FXO card should be used if the cards are
> interchangeable, such that, there are no impacts to other FAA
> requirements for example, size, availability, total circuit count, or
> other. If there is an impact, than 5 configurations for FXO and 5
> configurations for FXS cards should be provided (10 total).

3.  Regarding FAA Purchase Description -- 3.1.6 Mounting (b): *A maximum
    of 2 EIA-310 Rack Units (RU) in height, including ventilation
    requirements between units and any ancillary equipment that will be
    required to meet requirements stated herein*:

> Is this a hard requirement? Example, in the first three of the five
> CONFIG types, there are high densities of E&M ports that exceed most
> two RU channel bank capacities and would ultimately require multiple 2
> RU channel banks to achieve that E&M port density requirement.
> Therefore, would a single 6 RU channel bank an acceptable alternative
> to this requirement?
>
> [FAA Response:]{.underline} We are looking at all requirements for the
> Channel Bank, including size, to determine feasibility of a COTS
> solution. After review of the Market Survey responses, the FAA will
> discuss internally alternatives or relaxation of requirements as long
> is there is no impact to installation, operation or maintenance
> concerns. The current requirements are based on existing FAA
> constraints that may be mitigated by alternative approaches. Please
> comment on any and all requirements that may need further FAA review.

4.  Is the RMMS referenced in section 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 nothing but an
    Ethernet interface that will interface the FAA remote management
    system?

> [FAA Response:]{.underline} Yes. It is an Ethernet interface. The
> Channel Bank requirement is to communicate with an existing FAA RMMS
> platform using SNMP over this Ethernet interface.

**CHANNEL BANK MARKET SURVEY QUESTIONS FROM INDUSTRY**

5.  Will the channel bank provider be responsible for providing remote
    management software?

> [FAA Response:]{.underline} The Channel Bank is required to send
> information back to an existing FAA RMMS platform. Section 3.1.8 has
> requirements identified for software controlled equipment that require
> the software used to configure the Channel Bank be provided otherwise
> the requirement can not be fulfilled. The local interface used for
> local fault diagnostics identified in section 3.1.4(a), or to
> configure the Channel Bank is undefined and may be the same interface
> as the RMMS. Please provide any information concerning local and
> remote management software that performs the same and other functions
> that are not accessible to the RMMS.

6.  Regarding FAA Market Survey Question 11:*When a Digital Interface is
    configured for an external clock source, are the interfaces truly
    autonomous from the Channel Bank clock? How is Transmit and Receive
    Signal Element Timing (DCE) and Transmit Signal Element Timing (DTE
    Source) handled within the equipment for the EIA 530 and RS/EIA-232
    interfaces? FAA signaling on the Digital Interface requires that the
    equipment connected to the interface provide the timing for the
    circuit and not be synchronized to the Channel Bank. Please clarify
    your response considering the FAA requirement.*

> Question 11 appears to be asking if timing for the channel bank can be
> derived from the incoming RS232/RS530 circuit (DS0). What data rate
> (or rates) are intended to be supported on the incoming DS0 from which
> the timing is to be derived?
>
> [FAA Response:]{.underline} The timing requirement is specific to the
> interface and is not the synchronization for the channel bank as a
> whole. There is external equipment within the FAA that will connect to
> the RS232/RS530 interfaces that has unique timing, different for each
> port and not the source for the timing synchronization of the Channel
> Bank. The supported data rates for the timing requirements should be
> provided to the FAA as part of the response to the Market Survey.

**CHANNEL BANK MARKET SURVEY QUESTIONS FROM INDUSTRY**

7.  Does the application require that timing be derived from more than a
    single channel (DS0)? We believe the answer is no, but would like to
    confirm.

> [FAA Response:]{.underline} The timing is unique to the interface and
> is detailed in each respective industry specification. Please specify
> how theRS232/RS530 interfaces function in regard to the Market Survey.

8.  Regarding FAA Channel Bank Purchase Description under section
    3.2.1 (c) - Trunk Interface: *The Primary and Secondary interfaces
    must support independent operation and provisioning where multiple
    Channel Banks can be brought into a single Channel Bank*

> Referencing Channel Bank Purchase Description under section 3.2.1
> section c. There is also a question on your (the FAA's) questions
> document that also references this section. Can you provide any
> further description of this requirement? It would be helpful if a
> diagram of the multiple T-1\'s into one T-1 can be shown. Any
> reference or requirements to DS-0 grooming will be helpful also.
>
> [FAA Response:]{.underline} This is similar to a point to multipoint
> environment where a centrally located Channel Bank communicates to
> multiple remote Channel Banks on different Trunk Interfaces. The DS-0
> for the remote Channel Banks terminates a service at the centrally
> located Channel Bank.

9.  Regarding the FAA Channel Bank Purchase Description, the following
    FAA Specifications and Standards Documents were requested
    FAA-G-2100H (May 09, 2005); FAA-STD-019E (December 22, 2005); and
    FAA-E-2911 (March 26, 1998).

> [FAA Response:]{.underline} These documents are now posted.