Wireless and consumer emerge as key players for growth

The Now and the Mobile Next for SatNav

With 106 operational GNSS satellites flying today (or was that yesterday’s number?) satnav’s backbone is robust, variegated, supportive of growth across many industries — and poised to leverage even more prosperity. I’ve seen forecasts of as many as 400 satellites, well beyond GNSS proper and involving low-Earth orbit telcomm constellations, constantly patrolling space above us and beaming down positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) intelligence.

Where do you see your efforts focusing primarilly over the next decade? (Source: GPS World’s 2018 State of the Industry survey)

A draft headline for the cover of this issue — The Sky’s the Limit! — actually underestimated. Not even the sky is the limit.

Mobile. GNSS-enabled tablets and smartphones provide navigation, traffic and congestion maps to billions. These features will continue to drive demand for GNSS in all electronic equipment. As we move from the internet to the internet of things (IoT) as the dominant paradigm of advanced and developing societies, GNSS will boom louder than we have heretofore known it to do.

What is the industry “Issue of the Year?” (Source: GPS World’s 2018 State of the Industry survey)

Communication and location-enabled transportation services such as Lyft and Uber provide only one example of novel GNSS uses that have become the norm.

Tracking devices, whether personal, vehicular, or affixed to large assets, constitute a quiet though muscular growth market. The GPS tracking device generates high demand from industries such as information technology (IT), transportation, and telecommunication, providing real-time intelligence and advance diagnoses about products, vehicles and people, valued by consumers and businesses, enhancing security and safety — key concerns that will only grow in an increasingly vulnerable world.

What is the key challenge for positioning and navigation in the wireless and consumer space? (Source: GPS World’s 2018 State of the Industry survey)

Volume! The GPS tracking segment alone is expected to reach $2.53 billion by 2023, nearly 12% annual growth. Other mobile segments will increase in parallel. Don’t be deceived by the low-cost of low-accuracy tracking devices. Volume! Volume! Volume! is just as powerful a mantra as Location! Location! Location!

With the wireless carriers and IoT behind it, GNSS will see growth a-plenty and virtually no downside. U.S. cell carriers are now selling access to your real-time phone location data, a key signal that economic giants put high value on the technology.

For more results from the 2018 State of the GNSS Industry, see this page.