October 4, 2011 - ITT Corporation has signed a two-year agreement with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to provide its Symphony OpsVue flight tracking and situational awareness system for flight training programs at the university’s Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., campuses.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (generally referred to as Embry-Riddle or ERAU) is a private university in the US specializing in aviation and aerospace engineering.

It teaches the science, practice, and business of aviation and aerospace. Called "The Harvard of the Sky" by Time Magazine in 1979, Embry-Riddle has a history dating back to the early days of aviation.

Students enroll in one of two residential campuses located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, or in Embry-Riddle Worldwide, composed of over 170 campuses around the world including online learning. Embry-Riddle Worldwide serves working civilians and serving military personnel.

According to AMTSociety's Aircraft Maintenance Technology Embry-Riddle has one of the largest and most well-regarded Aerospace Engineering programs in the USA. Embry-Riddle began in 1925 as the Embry-Riddle Company, an aircraft dealer and airmail provider, founded by Talton Higbee Embry and John Paul Riddle in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

ITT’s Symphony OpsVue application will offer students a complete and accurate real-time view of airway and airport activity, allowing for safer, more efficient operations. Providing flexible data visualization options, the system incorporates the most comprehensive aircraft surveillance data available. Including data from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s NextGen surveillance system, which ITT installed and will operate and maintain. OpsVue is one module within ITT’s comprehensive Symphony application suite. 

“ITT continually looks to support smart, reliable and efficient airspace management. As one of the earlier adopters of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, Embry-Riddle has been using cutting-edge technologies to train pilots since 1925. “We are proud to offer this powerful new resource to help pilots-in-training make real-time decisions based on a complete view of their operations,” said John Kefaliotis, ITT’s vice president of next generation transportation systems.

“ITT’s surveillance data and flight tracking display application has brought an unprecedented level of situational awareness that did not exist before, making Embry-Riddle’s flight program safer,” said Steven Hampton, Associate Dean for Research, College of Aviation, at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. 

“We are pleased to extend our relationship with ITT and assist in developing solutions with industry leaders to today’s and tomorrow’s aeronautical and aerospace challenges.” Symphony OpsVue improves collaborative decision-making capabilities by integrating data from multiple information sources. The application is based on a synthesis of all FAA air traffic en route and surface surveillance data available in the U.S. National Airspace System. 

In addition to using ADS-B data derived directly from the national NextGen ADS-B network, OpsVue data sources include FAA en route and terminal secondary surveillance radar; FAA ASDE-X (Airport Surface Detection Equipment – X-band); and FAA WAM (Wide Area Multilateration). ITT Information Systems provides networked decision-support solutions to government and commercial customers through sophisticated information integration and protection, such as next generation air traffic management and information and cyber solutions.