5. Conclusion

For over fifty years, air traffic control has relied on radar to locate aircraft. A major evolution is underway, shifting this mission from radar to satellites. This evolution is the subject of work in the United States (NextGen) and Europe (Sesar, Eurocontrol).

• All this work is helping to shape the future of surveillance systems along three main lines:

  • the emergence of new radar systems that integrate meteorological information to optimize traffic flow;

  • for cooperative surveillance, gradual transition from radar (SSR and SSR mode S) to dependent (ADS-B) and non-dependent (WAM) systems;

  • for non-cooperative surveillance, transition from the current monostatic radar systems (PSR) to their multistatic version (MSPSR), either active...