Proven Accuracy and Reliability With Cost Effectiveness Drives Deployment of Wireless Sensor Systems Across All Industry Segments

Although the wireless method of transmitting data has been in practice for many years in areas such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), its potential application is now beginning to extend to other industrial, commercial and consumer sectors. In keeping with this trend, wireless sensors are rapidly gaining a stronghold in various industrial sectors such as building automation and industrial automation, and are also finding increased use in sectors such as residential controls and medical devices. Despite this, the adoption of this technology has been relatively slow. Educating and convincing end users about the various advantages of wireless sensors will be critical in increasing adoption levels.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.industrialautomation.frost.com ), World Wireless Sensors and Transmitters Markets reveals that revenues in this market totaled $160 million in 2005 and can reach $1850 million in 2012.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the World Wireless Sensors and Transmitters Markets, then send an e-mail to Tori Foster, Corporate Communications, at tori.foster@frost.com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e- mail.

With the availability of commodity radio devices, adoption of wireless sensing technology in building automation has risen considerably. Apart from this, there has been a notable increase in its receptivity in industrial applications. Industrial automation covers a variety of sub-activities such as energy management, process control and inventory tracking. The largest opportunity for wireless sensor networks is as sensing devices in remote or inaccessible areas such as nuclear plants, oil and gas fields and high temperature furnaces. Overall, the key growth areas for the technology lie in energy for metering, building automation, home automation, energy control and industrial control (industrial automation).

"The increasing adoption of wireless technology is attributed to its proven reliability, cost effectiveness and the ability to offer real world solutions in industrial scenarios," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Dr. R. Thusu. "Although reliability issues have challenged the technology in the past, drastic improvements in technology as well as recent innovations in hardware and software have ensured notable improvements in the reliability levels."

Amidst these positive trends, issues related to interoperability of multi- vendor equipment poses a significant challenge for the companies playing in global wireless sensors and transmitters markets. Wireless communication technology is successful only if the network and mobile equipment of different vendors can communicate and the embedding of proprietary software is serving to further aggravate this challenge, impeding penetration rates.

"Wireless sensors and sensor networking technologies are largely proprietary and each market participant has his own set of implementations with little interfacing capabilities with those of other manufacturers or original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst V. Sankaranarayanan. "Hence, if a customer was to buy a solution from one service provider, migrating to another would mean reworking the entire solution, thereby incurring significant costs."

"Nevertheless, with the emergence of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and very recent ZigBee standard, wireless sensing technology looks headed toward a standards-based environment," says Dr. Thusu and Sankaranarayanan. " In assuring the further growth of the market, participants will need to ensure that applications are developed in such a way that all sensors can be demonstrated independently and are also interoperable."

World Wireless Sensors and Transmitters Markets is part of the Sensors & Instrumentation (M&I) Growth Partnership Services subscription. It provides a detailed analysis on the various wireless sensors and transmitters that cater to a number of end-user segments. In this research service, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following markets/applications/technologies: home and building automation, industrial automation, aerospace defence and homeland security, healthcare, food and agriculture, energy and power, water and wastewater, inventory control and smart shelves, shipping - handling and smart containers, highway transportation and automotives, and OEMs. Analyst interviews are available to the press.

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Keywords in this release: wireless sensors and transmitters, wireless sensing technology, building automation, industrial automation, metering, home automation, energy control, nuclear plants, oil and gas fields, high temperature furnaces, IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee standard, research, information, market, trends, technology, service, forecast, market share