- EXECUTIVE PLATFORM
A Potent Voice of Aviation Safety: CRAIG DICKSON, EXECUTIVE CHAIR, STR-SPEECHTECH, CANADA
Founded in 1989 as a private corporation, Victoria BC Canada-headquartered STR-SpeechTech Ltd has carved out an enviable niche not only as a leading provider of state-of-the-art text-to-speech systems for air traffic control (ATC) towers around the world but also as a potent voice of aviation, providing safety-critical and efficiency-promoting aviation information broadcast solutions.
STR’s range of products include: StarCaster D-ATIS; StarCaster D-VOLMET; StarCaster RIS (Range Information Service) for creating and updating range activity broadcasts for military training ranges; and StarCaster RWAS (Remote Weather Advisory Service), an autonomous, high quality VHF broadcasting system providing weather advisory services in uncontrolled airspaces.
STR-SpeechTech’s name is truly a reflection of its enigmatic history. The company actually evolved from a non-profit research outfit operated as the Centre for Speech Technology Research (CSTR) at the University of Victoria, Canada.
Craig Dickson, the Executive Chair and Co-founder of STR-SpeechTech, was actually the brain behind the CSTR initiative which started in 1983 when he was running the Acoustic Phonetics laboratory in the University of Victoria’s Department of Linguistics. In this interview with Air Traffic Safety Electronics International Managing Editor, Adeyinka Olumuyiwa Osunwusi, Craig Dickson shared his insights regarding the world of aviation information broadcasts and how he views his future roles in STR.
STR has been providing a voice, so to say, for the aviation industry through innovative text-to-speech solutions since 1989. What are some of the changes you are seeing today regarding user requirements and expectations?
The primary change in customer requirements has been the need for a high degree of cyber-security. This requires a number of solutions, including highly redundant computer configurations or the deployment of multiple operational instances in virtualized environments, active system monitoring and reporting processes, and increasingly complex intersystem communications structures.
With the advent of remote towers, our customers are also requiring our StarCaster ATIS and VOLMET systems to provide air traffic management services to multiple aerodrome sites from a central location, often with the servers that support the remote operations being redundantly available at a second central facility.
A third growing customer requirement is the need to receive weather and airport/airfield data from a range of different sources, and to compile and distribute the new ATIS and VOLMET messages in real time to a large number of receiving systems in both text and audio format.
How is STR providing solutions to meet these requirements and expectations?
Well, our StarCaster product line is at Version 6 now, with plans in place to take it to Version 7 soon. Cyber-security is built into the product, and deployment in up to 4x redundancy is available along with the option of deployment in virtual environments. All user interfaces are now browser-based, making it possible for our products to be easily and intuitively controlled in these environments utilizing remote workstations.
We have also moved our audio output structure to the ED-137 VoIP standard in order to enable direct audio connection to ED-137 compatible radio transmitters and to provide reliable, scalable and cost-effective distribution of the ATIS and VOLMET messages over wide-area networks. To support this, we have also incorporated the Offset Carrier Mode (CLIMAX) into the VoIP transmission structure, providing the ability to synchronize the audio output timing of VHF broadcasts that are separated by several kilometers.
In addition, and as the result of several large-scale projects, the product’s functionality has been greatly modularized, allowing the ability to select the components that meet the customer’s needs, such as different input and output interfaces, multi-site configurations, datalink request management and so on.
How do you see information vis-à-vis the safety and efficiency of air navigation?
From our perspective as a supplier of critical information for pilots in flight, clear and concise audio messages that are easily delivered from the control tower or flight service station are paramount. Essentially, this is what brought us to the air navigation industry, being aware of the requirement to provide messages to pilots without increasing their cognitive load, and without having to ask ATC to repeat the ATIS message.
Do you think the industry is doing enough to raise the level of operational safety and efficiency in terms of investing in aviation information broadcast solutions?
Clearly the level of operational safety and efficiency varies across the world. For example, in Africa, we are happy to report that in the last ten years we have deployed StarCaster ATIS or VOLMET systems in Accra, Entebbe, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Kigali, Kamembe, Dakar, Brazzaville, Maputo and Antananarivo, with several more anticipated over the next few years. So, this is definitely a sign of improvement and one that we have also observed in other regions.
STR-SpeechTech Limited is a consequence of a vision that started in 1983 with the University of Victoria’s Centre for Speech Technology Research. How relevant is this vision today, especially in the light of the growing importance of information in aviation operations?
I continue to be encouraged by how relevant that vision from 40 years ago remains. With the advent of AI, the capabilities of speech technology are improving rapidly. However, with the strict cyber security requirements within the air traffic management industry, it remains necessary to deliver a text-to-speech system that retains very high fidelity while operating in an isolated environment.
Talking about StarCaster deployments, are your customers limited to the civil aviation sector?
No. Historically we have provided many systems to the US Air Force and the US Army. These are primarily ATIS systems, but we also provide a Range Information System that broadcasts the conditions and activities occurring in military practice ranges to aircraft using or transiting the range area.
How do you describe STR’s journey so far?
Highly rewarding. We have been proud to remain on the leading edge of text-to-speech technology while gradually expanding to become the leading supplier of ATIS and VOLMET systems in the air traffic management industry.
And what role has partnership played in your organization’s success over the years?
Partnering with system integrators and resellers was a key component of our business strategy when we first entered the industry. With the ongoing success of our products, this has become less critical since ANSPs have become familiar with us and our brand, and are inclined to approach us directly. It has been a key strategy of ours to work closely with ANSPs to continue to innovate and expand on StarCaster’s capabilities. However, many large airport projects that are aimed at general improvements to air traffic management safety and efficiency, particularly in locations such as Africa and Asia, are best handled by locally established partners who have good regional knowledge and a good reputation with the customer.
Do you have a special memory of a particular moment while actively steering STR’s rudder?
There are many. One that jumps to mind is when we closed our first contract in the aviation sector, which was to install the first ever automated VOLMET system available to the industry. This was deployed in Gander, Newfoundland for Transport Canada in 1994 and was initiated using an unsolicited proposal that introduced technology that had not previously been considered by the customer. That VOLMET system, after three system refreshes, is still in operation, providing oceanic VOLMET broadcasts to aircraft as they cross the Atlantic from Europe.
Another special memory comes from working with the Irish Aviation Authority to install a VOLMET system in Shannon in 2008. Many good friends were made then, and that system has been operating without failure since its installation. We are only now engaged in a new project to replace and upgrade that system, and to make new friends!
In August 2022, Joe McNally succeeded you as STR’s CEO. What exactly informed this change of baton?
Joe joined us as our Director of Business Administration in early 2019, having worked very successfully in the air traffic management industry for ten years then. He brought to STR significant insight in business development and contract management and so was immediately a natural fit.
In 2022 it became time for me to consider retirement, after being at the helm for almost 40 years, and Joe was interested in taking on the CEO position and expanding his knowledge of business planning, management and leadership. And he is doing an excellent job.
Do we call this semi-retirement or full retirement?
Well, it feels like full retirement because I’m having such a good time. But in fact, it is semi-retirement since you can usually find me in the office around three days a week.
What would be your roles now as the Executive Chair of STR?
My role is primarily advisory now, helping Joe with strategic and financial planning. I also still participate in technological design and innovation, but we have accumulated such expertise in our company recently that my services in these areas are also being reduced to an advisory role.
Are you still involved in academic activities with the University of Victoria?
Not very often anymore. The colleagues I collaborated with at the University of Victoria are now retired, and I have not taught classes at UVic for many years now. However, I continue to hold an adjunct assistant professor’s position with the Department of Linguistics, and our company often hires linguistics and computer engineering students under the University’s co-operative training program. Following graduation, these students have frequently returned to us for permanent employment. ◙
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- INTERVIEWS
