Real time locating may locate $2.6bn by 2019

DUBLIN:  From 2009, where there are 50 RTLS suppliers, RTLS Market may be rising to 200 in 2014, reflecting the market growth from $153 Million in 2009 to $2.58 Billion in 2019.

As a report forecast on Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) by Research & Markets shows, some of the largest companies in the world are now active in RTLS, which will become 35 per cent of the active RFID market in only ten years. These companies include Mitsubishi, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Motorola.

Further shared, the RTLS value chain mainly revolves around small portable tags, almost always battery powered, interrogators, sophisticated software and system integration. However, other items of hardware are often needed and facilities management, training, support, legacy integration and other services are often involved. IDTechEx find that tags have become a larger part of RTLS cost of ownership by value. They were around 20 per cent in past years but now they are around 35 per cent. This is because schemes will become bigger, with more tags per interrogator and eventually even some disposable tags. There will also be add on and replacement tags for existing schemes. Tags becoming more sophisticated, sometimes with displays, sensors etc.

Most suppliers in the RTLS value chain are in the US where by far the largest market is situated. However, the number of European suppliers is growing rapidly and there will be significant growth in suppliers in East Asia within five years, with interesting developments in Australia and South Africa that appear in some of the case studies that are analyzed in this report.

Hospital staff have traditionally had difficulty summoning assistance when faced with an emergency medical situation or, increasingly, physical assault. Alarm pendants have alerted backup but not given position. Timely location of a child lost in a theme park and possibly in danger has been impractical. Supply chains are traditionally tracked by RFID, barcodes and so on with a similar lack of precision.

As the press note adds, at best one knows that the package or conveyance passed a choke point at some stage and heroic assumptions are then made as to where it now resides. Vehicles are also tracked with imprecision. Postal services need to ‘switch the light on’ and take a holistic automated approach. The antidote to these and other shortcomings is RTLS. The main applications of RTLS will be in manufacturing, military, healthcare, postal/ courier, research and development and military sectors but with increased interest from most other sectors including retail and agricultural.

This report covers over 65 RTLS case studies from around the world. The range of RTLS technologies covered include Wi-Fi, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), Proprietary and standardized RF systems at UHF, GHz, Infra-red, Ultrasound, Zigbee, GPS and GSM.

So, would RFID and RTLS make any palpable difference to various tracking situations and industries as the report cites above?