This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) market. This segment focuses on the usage of trackers or tags attached to assets or employees. Some of the prominently used technologies include Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and active RFID, which support tracking and monitoring of devices within a designated area.
Real Time Location Systems are used to automatically track and monitor objects and have become a key technology across various industry verticals such as manufacturing, healthcare, education, transportation, and storage. The most prominent use cases of RTLS include tracking automobiles and their components through an assembly line, locating pallets of merchandise in a warehouse, finding medical equipment in hospitals, and ensuring staff safety. It not only optimises cost and business processes but is also useful for workers’ safety.
A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector break-downs and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.
The report examines key factors that are influencing the development of the market, including:
This section of the report begins with the major reason behind the adoption of real time location systems (RTLS), talks about some of their features (like tracking assets with pinpoint accuracy), and their benefits (such as better customisation of goods and production processes). For example, Tesla uses sensors on autonomous forklifts that automatically locate and inform employees of any malfunctions while loading and unloading finished cars. Automation of forklifts helps Tesla achieve a rate of only 2 seconds of downtime per car.
It then explains how real time location systems are helpful in the healthcare industry. For instance, in healthcare facilities, RTLS can identify adherence and violations of quarantine protocols and demarcate the areas that are likely to be contaminated (based on the movement of people).
This section of the report explains how RTLS is useful in inventory and warehouse management across multiple industries (like manufacturing and healthcare industries). For instance, they can play a crucial role in locating assets, which can allow workers to be more efficient, since they have to spend less time locating items. Case in point, the Parkland Health and Hospital System in the US implemented RTLS tracking across 60,000 assets within its premises and saved USD390,000 in 2018. In another instance, Wake Forest Baptist (a medical research institute) used RTLS to track more than 17,000 pieces of medical equipment in more than 40 buildings, which reduced excess equipment purchases and rental expenses, helping it to save more than USD3 million per year, 10,000 staff hours annually, and cut short patient waiting time by up to 50%.
This section delves into the role of real time location systems in enhancing safety for healthcare facilities, warehouses, and manufacturing units. For instance, introducing RTLS solutions in a hospital allows healthcare providers to maintain automated records of the equipment’s locations and when they were last cleaned, which reduces contamination and the risk of poorly sanitised equipment. Besides, RTLS can improve safety in warehouse and manufacturing facilities, which reduces the chances of injuries and losses in such places.
This section primarily focusses on the communication technologies that are currently being used and discusses their advantages over one another. For instance, in addition to Active RFID and Wi-Fi, it explains how UWB is another technology that is also being preferred now and its benefits (like better localisation accuracy). It then shifts to ambient IoT and explains how this alternative technology can also be used to track assets in real-time.
It also provides a table discussing the various features (such as accuracy, battery life, maximum range, maximum throughput, and total cost) of these technologies and lists a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, like Ford Motors saving costs using low-powered RF tags.
The key vendors section lists some of the main providers of products and services related to the market, such as Siemens, Ubisense, Sewio Networks, Airista Flow, Centrak, and Zebra Technologies. For each of these vendors, the report also provides illustrative use-cases of their RTLS deployments in a tabular format. For instance, Mercedes Benz Türk used Siemens’ RTLS to determine the exact location of its vehicles within the factory in real-time for optimised vehicle management.
The report also provides profiles of the various vendors, including aspects most relevant to this Application Group, such as product offerings, pricing, financial results, and technology.
In the market forecasts section, we provide a summary of the forecasts from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database:
The report charts the growth in the number of devices, which will grow from 3.9 million to 10.9 million in 2034.
Transforma Insights forecasts are compiled on a country-by-country basis. This report includes a regional summary, showing splits between Australasia, Greater China, North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, MENA, Russia & Central Asia, South East Asia, South Korea, India & South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Transforma Insights’ IoT forecasts include splits between the various connectivity technologies as follows: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G mMTC, 5G non-mMTC, LPWA (non-mMTC), Satellite, Short Range, and Other.
This section discusses which technologies will be used in the real time location systems application group.
This part of the report discusses the market growth in terms of revenue (module revenue, service wrap revenue, and VAC revenue). Transforma Insights estimates that the revenue in the Real Time Location Systems Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 13%.
