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$80 Bil. planned for Projects in Air Traffic Management

27 May 1998

$80 Billion in Planned and Proposed Projects for Air Traffic Management in Next Decade, According to Allied Business Intelligence

    OYSTER BAY, N.Y., May 27 -- The need to transition Air
Traffic Management (ATM) to a new level of performance is driven by increasing
air traffic that is straining the capacities and safety envelopes in airspaces
of the most developed regions of the world.  In developing regions,
particularly China, economic growth is causing rapid installation of ATM
infrastructures.
    As what was traditionally called Air Traffic Control (ATC) is evolving
into a global Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, many market segments are
blossoming with opportunities.  A new report from Allied Business
Intelligence, "Air Traffic Management Systems:  Changes and Opportunities in
Global ATC Equipment Markets" evaluates the ATC equipment market size over the
next decade.  The report identifies over $80 billion in planned and proposed
projects.
    The global market for radar systems will expand from $2 billion to
$4 billion per year in less than a decade
    A more quickly growing market, ATM software, will reach $2 billion in five
years.  This market is driven by flexibly programmed commercial computer
systems and the flow of data streams from a variety of sensor systems.
    Early successes with GPS (Global Positioning Satellite System) signals for
navigation have made GPS the cornerstone of new ATM management architectures.
The new world is close, and there is a significant market for ATC equipment
for the move to a global system.
    The report projects the growth of key electronic ATC equipment segments in
terms of nine regions of the globe.  The reasons for recent shifts in growth
rates for various geographic regions are analyzed.
    The burgeoning market for software includes routines that assimilate data
streams, en route centers, TRACONs and airport sensors to feed information
into zoomable area displays on ATC terminals, giving controllers real airspace
management capabilities.  New software developments are improving the ability
of controllers to monitor airport surface traffic and detect potential
conflicts on the ground and in the air.
    Early FAA results with Differential GPS (DGPS) trials led to deployment of
a Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) array that will be operational in North
America in 1998.  Near-term developments will take the system to Category I
precision.  WAAS will quickly become a billion dollar market early in the next
century.  The report discusses why and where it will be deployed.
    An enhancement to aircraft Mode S avionics turns them into GPS squitters,
the backbone system for Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B).
Couple this to voice and data switches and Communication-Navigation-
Surveillance (CNS/ATM) is at the threshold of realization.  The report
discusses the reasons for delays in ADS-B implementation and quantifies the
size of the market for CNS/ATM enabling technologies.
    The delays also impact movement of Airport Surface Detection Equipment
(ASDE) to a DGPS basis, slowing the rate of conversion from Airport
Surveillance Radar (ASR) to Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) scans.
    Operational tests with a prototype Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS)
are scheduled for Fall 1998.  Once deployment begins, the market will be
furious with this low-cost alternative to the standard Instrument Landing
System (ILS).
    Until LAAS is available, only Precision Runway Monitors (PRM) furnish
safe, simultaneous parallel runway use.  PRM will experience relatively strong
market growth in the next few years.
    The report investigates the market impact of a turnover in the ways things
are done to the way the world will work in just a few years.
    Nearly a hundred charts and tables project the growth and transition of
nine key ATC electronic equipment markets.  Numerous available and planned ATC
projects in various regions around the globe are quantified.  Attention is
given to the dominant companies, the reasons for their success, and the
impacts of consolidation among equipment manufacturers.