HITT will provide the airports with A3000 Advance Surface Movement Guidance and Control systems, a state-of-the-art ground movement system which enables air traffic controllers to guide all aircraft and vehicle movements at the airport under all weather conditions. The order – worth EUR 5 million – will be finalized and delivered in record time, within eight months and in time for the coming monsoon season. Airports worldwide are dealing with capacity problems due to the increasing popularity of air traffic and the slow growth of airport capacity as a result of which airport efficiency is under pressure. In addition to safety, security and efficiency of traffic, these systems take care of an optimal organization of the airport by making better use of the airport capacity.

Strong market presence

With this order for three airports HITT’s market presence in India has further increased. This is in line with the strategy to further strengthen and build HITT’s position in Europe and the Far East. In the maritime field, HITT supplied a system to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited for guidance and safeguarding the shipping around oil platforms and drilling rigs off the west coast of India. In addition HITT also received an order for a vessel traffic management system in the Gulf of Kachchh in North West India.

Capacity in poor visibility

India regularly experiences heavy monsoon rains followed by prolonged periods of fog. The resulting poor visibility disrupts air traffic because it often forces air traffic controllers to divert aircraft to other airports. HITT's systems effectively deal with this situation. They provide a real-time overview of all aircraft and vehicle movements at the airport, and enable safe guidance of traffic under all visibility conditions. HITT's Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS) also enable airport authorities to further optimise taxiing and slot times. In the past five years air traffic has increased with more than 18 per cent annually. This increase and the strong growth of domestic flights necessitate these systems for continued assurance of airport safety and capacity. HITT will equip each of the three airports with two radars and a multilateration system. Important innovations in these systems are the use of a next generation video extractor and a web based Control and Monitoring System. The video extractor digitises the radar video for tracking and display. This in-house development surpasses the competition in resolution and performance. The web based CMS provides full flexibility for maintenance staff. It allows them to manage the system from any connected location with a standard web browser.

Ready for the future

The HITT systems are fully ready for future expansion, for example with a Wide Area Multilateration (WAM). WAM tracks and identifies aircraft outside the airport. It is far more cost effective and reliable than traditional Secondary Surveillance Radars. It is much smaller is size, contains no moving parts and is more resilient to component failures.