This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the IoT Security Tracking market. This segment comprises monitoring devices for defence personnel, security guards, and prison guards. The segment also includes tracking devices for offender tagging.
To provide a safe working environment, businesses, federal agencies, and correctional departments are ramping up efforts to safeguard their personnel from accidents and injuries. Security Tracking solutions can reduce human and capital loss resulting from on-site injuries. To address this market, manufacturers have developed connected wearable devices which can be worn as wristbands, ankle bracelets, or on an individual’s clothes.
The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used and revenue.
A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector breakdowns and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.
This section of the report first explains why businesses, federal agencies, and correctional departments are ramping up their efforts to safeguard officers and security guards from accidents and injuries, and how security tracking solutions are playing a crucial role in this effort. For instance, security tracking solutions can reduce human and capital loss due to on-site injuries. The report then examines key factors that are influencing the development of the market, including:
This section first explains how providing real-time situational awareness and improving response time can help soldiers in war zones and during training periods (like reducing material loss and limiting damage to civilians) and then it talks about the multiple forms of soldier monitoring devices along with their benefits. For example, monitoring devices can work as wristbands, or they can be worn around the neck or on footwear, and they help military departments monitor soldiers’ vitals and track their movement.
It then explains how armed forces are also trying to deploy smart soldier equipment to improve their capabilities and why many of them are choosing to set up their own networks, including reasons like private satellite networks being able to solve the challenge of poor or unavailable wireless coverage in remote locations.
This subsection talks about the ongoing trend of various governments investing trillions of dollars in national security (further exacerbated by factors like the ongoing war in Ukraine and Gaza) and charts 10 countries with the highest military expenditure in 2025 along with spending as a share of their GDP (%).
It also adds that although military expenditure is increasing, most militaries are decreasing their personnel strength, owing to factors like high cost of soldier recruitment, training, remuneration, and other benefits. It explains that since highly experienced specialists are more expensive to train, there is considerable incentive for armed forces to ensure the safety and continued effectiveness of their valuable assets through the use of IoT devices.
This subsection claims that procurement contracts often take considerable time and many years of effort, which restricts their quick adoption and prevents small defence equipment providers from entering the market. It also talks about other barriers, like cybersecurity and data governance, which can negatively impact the market. It also adds a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, such as the US Special Operations Forces using chest-mounted sensor devices.
This section focuses on the benefits of using tracking devices for security guards, since they work odd hours, under minimal supervision, and are often exposed to violence, assaults, and verbal abuse from the public. For instance, these devices provide enhanced safety to these guards and support businesses in monitoring their on-duty activities. It also talks about some communication technologies like RFID and NFC readers that are present in some GPS-enabled monitoring devices and their features (like requesting assistance and reporting suspicious activities in a facility).
This section discusses some alternative methods which can reduce the dependence on security guards to patrol residential or commercial premises: connected cameras, drones, autonomous security robots, and smartphone applications. For instance, while connected cameras can detect on-site intrusion and instantly alert relevant stakeholders, at a lower cost than employing additional guards; drones can provide industrial security by continuously patrolling worksites and capturing real-time aerial photos and videos. It also gives an example of a relevant IoT deployment in this application: an English Premier League football club is using Lonealert’s GPS tracking devices for security guards.
This section of the report primarily focuses on the benefits of the use of bodycams and security trackers by prison guards and correctional officers since they work in dangerous and stressful environments, and often face verbal and physical violence from prisoners, eventually resulting in physical and mental health issues including anxiety, depression, and high blood pressure.
This subsection discusses the benefits of using bodycams by prison guards. For instance, bodycams can bring transparency and better accountability to prison guards by monitoring their on-duty conduct, and these devices can also deter prison clashes and serve as proof in case of violent activities, as videos captured by bodycams are admissible during court proceedings. It then discusses the communication technology (including cellular) being used by these trackers and monitors.
This subsection charts the factors hindering the deployment of bodycams. These include opposition from prison unions (who demand the amount to be invested towards higher salaries instead of being spent to procure new hardware) and a limited public budget. It also mentions a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, like the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry equipping its prison guards with bodycams.
This section first explains why governments around the world are being forced to house convicts in communities under electronic monitoring and then goes on to explain various kinds of offender tagging devices: GPS-based monitoring devices, Radio frequency-based monitoring devices, Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM) devices, and Ignition interlock devices.
This subsection explains how staff shortages and high cost of prison maintenance are also adding impetus to the adoption of offender tagging solutions. For instance, according to the US Federal Bureau of Prisons, the average cost of incarceration for a federal inmate was USD120 per day. It also adds that often, these charges are expected to be borne by convicts, who can’t afford to pay for the same, forcing them into a cycle of greater debt, lengthier tagging sentences, and even reintroduction to the prison system.
It then exclaims that most studies have confirmed the positive impact of using offender tags on reoffending. For instance, a study conducted by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds that in comparison to prisons, electronic tagging can decrease the probability of reoffending by 22% five years after sentencing and by 11% ten years after sentencing.
It then shows how multiple governments are trying to benefit from electronic tagging systems to ease the dependency on the prison system and support law enforcement to monitor and confine convicts in communities while serving their sentences, and in a tabular format, it then talks about some countries and their deployment of offender tagging devices. This includes the US, Brazil, the UK, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Finland, Turkiye, Sweden, Norway, and Estonia. Case in point, in Italy, as of March 2025, there were more than 12,000 active electronic devices.
This section explains how alcohol monitoring tags are also gaining prominence to curb alcohol-related crimes. For instance, in the UK, 2,800 offenders were required to wear alcohol tags during the Christmas period in 2023. It then explains how some offender tagging devices help in monitoring and restricting convicts’ movements (like sex offenders) from specific areas as part of their sentence. It also provides a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, including Serco winning a contract to supply electronic monitoring solutions in the UK.
The key vendors section lists some of the main providers of products and services related to the market, such as Axon, Motorola, Attenti, Raveon, BI, Buddi, and SuperCom. The report 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 which will grow from 5.3 million in 2025 to 11.7 million in 2035.
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 security tracking 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 Security Tracking Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 10%.
