London, UK: After the difficulties faced in 2009, the precision GNSS market can now look forward to sustained growth and near doubling of shipments and revenues by 2016, says a report by market research firm ABI research.
While precision GNSS manufacturers have mostly been involved in surveying till now, other areas such as construction, GIS mapping, agriculture, military and aviation are most likely to be the major business drivers during the coming years. The manufacturers can also take encouragement from the fact that the market is fast expanding into new, previously unexplored regions. China, a market that didn’t exist 10 years ago, was considered to be the second largest market for GNSS receivers last year.
Senior analyst, telematics and navigation, Patrick Connolly says, “A combination of small, low cost receivers are enabling new devices, services and markets to open up, such as laptops, handhelds, communications devices, etc. Flexible receiver design is also vital, as new GNSS constellations and increasing availability of augmentation technologies proliferate, e.g. RTK, CORS, GLONASS, Compass, Galileo, LocataTech, etc. GNSS receiver manufacturers are increasingly moving to firmware upgrades to support these technologies in a cost effective way for users.”
With the cost of hardware OEM equipment set to fall sharply, companies are looking to generate increasing revenues from software, firmware upgrades, applications, connectivity, distributor support, etc. Connectivity and real-time data enable the industry to monitor and analyze information, streamlining processes and bring new levels of performance. Trimble’s 2010 financial results clearly illustrate how this shift is already underway.
Dominique Bonte, group director, telematics and navigation, however, adds a word of caution, “This new growth will also bring a threat from new entrants from emerging regions such as CHC in China, as well consumer GNSS IC companies supporting open L2C and L5 signals.”
Source: Business wire & ABI research
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