Avoiding areas of dangerous turbulence at cruise altitude is what every pilot is trained to do. The problem is that using conventional radars can be an intensive manual process that adds to pilot workload. And interpreting the information on the display may not lead to the safest way to avoid the worst parts of a storm. However, with the advent of automated "advanced" weather radar systems within the past five years, pilots are presented with far more detailed meteorological information than conventional systems can display, and without having to tilt the antenna manually in the process.

Yet, despite the advantages the new systems afford--enhanced information and reduced workload--the jury is still undecided as to whether they will generate an explosive retrofit market or a modest one at best.

In order to draw any conclusions about potential retrofit opportunities, some understanding of the current products and their applications is necessary. Currently, Honeywell Aerospace and Rockwell Collins are the two major suppliers of radar systems.

Weather Radars in Market

Honeywell's IntuVue, introduced in 2004, and initially applied to the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport, is the only patented "3-D weather radar system." In 2006, it became the first weather radar certified to the FAA's enhanced turbulence detection standards. Designed for commercial and military air transport as well as business aircraft, IntuVue's 3-D capability provides vertical and horizontal scanning along with "a true cross-sectional view of the weather," forward and backward. In 2006, the system was modified for commercial airliner forward fit and retrofit installations on the Boeing 777, and in 2007, on all members of Boeing's 737NG family.

The OEM expects to certify IntuVue for the Airbus A320 in the first quarter of 2010, and on the A330 and A340 by the same time in 2011, says Mike Grove, director of marketing product management for surveillance products for Honeywell Aerospace. He points out that IntuVue is installed on the Airbus A380, but as an integral (not stand-alone) part of the Honeywell Aircraft Environment Surveillance System (AESS), which includes the transponder, TCAS and the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System. Airbus also has selected the Honeywell AESS--with IntuVue--for the A350 and the A400 military transport.

IntuVue is being certified for the Gulfstream G650, which is slated for delivery in 2011, as well as on the Antonov An-124-100 freighter (by mid-2010), on the Tupolev TU-204 airliner (first quarter 2010) and the Kawasaki Heavy Industries C-X military transport, Grove says. The system already is certified on the C-130.

Honeywell is in the process of assessing the retrofit market for IntuVue in both the commercial and the business jet markets, says Grove. "With the entry of the Gulfstream G650 into service in 2011, we expect it will be available for other large cabin jets, including additional Gulfstream models, the Falcons and the Global Express," he says. "We also envision a smaller version of the IntuVue radar that could fit medium and smaller jets, but that's something we are still assessing."

On the airline side, Grove says that interest will pick up in retrofits once the economy improves. "Right now, we do have customers who are retrofitting IntuVue for fleet commonality purposes, since they are taking delivery of new aircraft with IntuVue already installed."

In 2002, Rockwell Collins introduced MultiScan as the first airborne automated weather radar system and in 2008, rolled out the latest generation--MultiScan Hazard Detection Weather Radar. As with Honeywell's IntuVue, MultiScan is a fully automated scanning system that automatically filters out ground clutter and has the capability to perform complex analyses of weather cells, measuring precipitation rates and areas of potential turbulence. Under current planning, a next-generation MultiScan Hazard Detection Weather Radar with greater weather cell analysis capability will be certified in 2011, while an even more capable system, focusing on hail and lightning, is slated for certification by 2013.

MultiScan is available for all current production Boeing and Airbus models, except for the A380, says Joel Otto, Rockwell Collins' senior director of marketing for air transport systems