Real Time Locating Systems 2009-2019

Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) are electronic systems that are intended to locate small electronic devices on people or things at any time. There are many situations calling for RTLS, particularly now that it has become affordable and the mobile devices that are sensed have, in many cases, become small and convenient. In 2009, there are 50 RTLS suppliers, rising to 200 in 2014, reflecting the market growth from $153 Million in 2009 to $2.58 Billion in 2019.

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% in past years but now they are around 35%. 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 we analyze in this report.

The full range of RTLS technologies and systems are analyzed, including:

 

Some of the options are summarized below.

 

Source: IDTechEx

This report covers over 65 RTLS case studies from around the world. For each one we give details of the what was done, the companies involved, the technology used, implementation experiences, benefits and paybacks. 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. 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.

 

Some of the largest companies in the world are now active in RTLS, which will become 35% of the active RFID market in only ten years. These companies include Mitsubishi, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Motorola.

 

The report includes ten year forecasts by tag and system technologies.

Source: IDTechEx

This report incudes a thorough consideration of the extension of the technological repertoire that will underpin the rapid adoption of RTLS in future. Standards, privacy issues and impediments to rollout of RTLS are considered. For anyone involved or seeking to get involved in supplying or benefiting from RTLS, this is a must-read report.

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