Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Global Constellations, Regional Constellations, Satellite-Based Augmentations), By Application (Rail, Road, Aviation, Maritime, LBS, Time Synch, Agriculture, Surveying and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2021-2028

The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) market was USD 160.69 billion in 2020. It is projected to grow from USD 175.19 billion in 2021 to USD 320.73 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 9.02% from 2020 to 2028. North America dominated the GNSS market with a market share of 41.01% in 2020. Moreover, the GNSS market size in the U.S. is projected to grow significantly, reaching an estimated value of USD 79.33 million by 2029, driven by emerging applications of GNSS to augment market size & growth.

The growing demand for location-based services in agriculture, logistics, and retail industries across the U.S. market is fueling GNSS market growth. The advent of autonomous vehicle technology and drones is utilizing GNSS technology for precise positioning and navigation. Various urban development initiatives, such as urban planning, infrastructure development, and traffic management, are using location-based technologies to track precise location-based data in the U.S. market.

The global impact of COVID-19 has been unprecedented and staggering, with the global navigation satellite system witnessing a positive demand shock across all regions amid the pandemic. Based on our analysis, the global market will exhibit stellar growth in 2020. The sudden fall in CAGR is attributable to this market’s demand and growth, returning to pre-pandemic levels once the pandemic is over.

The advent of the 21^st century brought digitalization, a mammoth technological advancement source, helped in digital diversification and the evolution of various GNSS-enabled solutions and services. With the high demand for Positioning, Navigation, and Time-sync (PNT) dependable services and increased consumer-induced cost-effectiveness, navigation satellite and its receiver providers have emphasized creating enhanced user experience for the future. To gain the traction for enhanced user experience, the significance of interoperability of various navigation satellite systems, the adoption of open compatible frequency band signals by system providers, vast utilization of multi-constellation-based GNSS receivers. The skyrocketed expansion of the electronic industry attributed to the high adoption rate of smartphones, and other digitalized applications has been projected to create lucrative opportunities for major PNT applications. According to bankmycell, the shifting trend in an advanced smartphone is dependent on the demand for 5G-capable infrastructure. The emergence of 5G technology, smartphone companies, technological advancement in other 5G applications focuses on improving internet speed by increasing performance and establishing hardware capability by adding the multi-frequency benefits.

The major use of satellite navigation was introduced and designed for military applications to allow the precision target delivery to achieve the highest accuracy in crucial operations. These key developments are expected to stimulate demand for navigation satellites in the forthcoming years.

Positive Impact on GNSS Market due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the various market industries positively or negatively. High growth regions have significantly impacted several industry operations, such as product manufacturing, new product supply, and raw material supply. High growth regions have considerably impacted several industry operations, such as product manufacturing, new product supply, and raw material supply. Despite the current pandemic, the global market has been propelled to grow at a stellar growth rate. The sensitivity and growth of the global market can be defined through the following details:

• GNSS and Bluetooth sensors equipped smartphone application has been developed to deter the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by Sygic and other technology companies, which helps in suspected infection contact tracing.


• In September 2020, according to Science Daily, the improvised reflectometry measurements quality was influenced by travel restriction and the reduction in cars parked in the vicinity of ground stations. This development has significantly reduced the signal scattering and improved the quality.


• Despite the pandemic-impacted global 5G rollouts, the post-pandemic market has witnessed market growth owing to the high demand and adoption rate of 5G technology-relevant technological infrastructure. The countries worldwide have seen the network spectrum distribution auctions development.

Global Navigation Satellite System Market Trends

Development in 5G Technologies to Create Significant Growth Opportunities

Consumer electronics devices such as smartphones, smart wearable, digital cameras, and tablets are widely used navigation technology for mapping, geo-marketing, and navigation applications. This development has accelerated the high adoption rate of various location-based service (LBS) applications. A rise in location-based services such as online food delivery, online medicinal drug delivery, asset tracking applications, online cab services, and the online product delivery is projected to propel the global navigation satellite system market growth.

Besides, the emerging 5G network technology has increased the development of 5G enabled smartphones and other consumer electronic devices. In this upcoming 5G era, advanced navigation chips for smartphones have also increased. Integrating advanced navigation components in consumer electronic devices will improve the current LBS application capabilities regarding network speed, performance, and more accurate positioning information.

For instance, by 2025, according to the European GNSS Agency, over 2.5 billion device units will be sold. This development will be expected to create plenty of opportunities for the growth of the GNSS market soon.

The Emergence of Driverless Technologies to Boost Market Growth

A fully automated vehicle, the product or services delivery through UAVs, requires advanced navigation system technology to provide precise positioning solutions. Integrating global navigation satellite system receivers in such applications will provide accurate location and time information. This real-time information is required to navigate UGV & UAVs on the road and maintain their safe distance from possible mishaps. This technology enables the efficient and reliable operation of unmanned vehicles. Therefore, the increasing development of such vehicles in developing economies such as China will create ample opportunities to support the market's growth during the forecast period.

For instance, in 2019, Germany-based Daimler AG announced the technological collaboration with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW AG) to work together on autonomous driving technology.

For instance, Audi AG, headquartered in Germany, has announced to invest USD 163 billion in self-driving and other associated technologies by 2023.

DRIVING FACTORS

Emerging Applications of GNSS to Augment Market Growth

At first, developed for Military applications, GPS is a widely utilized navigation satellite system worldwide that can instrument the location identifications with 10 cm or less accuracy with 31 satellites across six orbital planes. For instance, in 2020, the GPS modernization program has deployed two new GPS III, Magellan and Vespucci. It provides accurate positioning information to commercial applications such as aviation, maritime, geometrics, rail, and military.

The high adoption rate of precision agriculture improves crop yield and reduces environmental impact. Navigation satellite has been utilized in farm machinery guidance to help to reduce the overlapping risks, biomass monitoring, automatic steering, and agrichemicals distribution. Navigation Satellite has other agriculture applications, such as forest management, soil condition monitoring, livestock tracking, virtual fencing, and others.

The navigation satellites are used for performance-based navigation in the Aviation industry through Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receivers-equipped aircraft that helps in search & rescue operations and surveillance. The maps' utilization for current aircraft location and infringement alarms alert pilots against any closed or restricted airspace. Pilots also carry GNSS-equipped PLBs (Personal Locator Beacons) that help rescue missions.

GNSS marine PNT systems regulate the traffic management and surveillance of all cargo ships passenger ships with high load-carrying capacity through automatic identification system (AIS) and long-range identification and tracking (LRIT) in inland water and sea.  The system has other applications such as fishing vessel control, search and rescue, marine engineering, and port operations. These factors are projected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period.

Growing Adoption of Unmanned Vehicles/Autonomous Vehicles for Various Applications to Boost Market Growth

Over the past few years, unmanned robotic vehicles (URV) have increased worldwide. The demand is mainly growing due to the enhanced capabilities of various industry verticals such as automotive, aviation, agriculture, maritime, military, and transportation & logistics.

The unmanned vehicles/autonomous vehicles, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), and unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), require integration of navigation satellite system receivers to measure precise real-time positioning information. This information is crucial in several applications such as surveying, search and rescue, mapping, autonomous delivery, and military combat missions.

Moreover, the advanced GNSS/ INS receivers can allow an unmanned vehicle to perform effectively, even in a weak navigation satellite signal reception area. Therefore, the demand for GNSS/INS integrated UAV is increased. These factors are expected to fuel the growth of the navigation satellite system market during the forecast period.

For instance, in 2019, Septentrio N.V., headquartered in Belgium, has introduced its latest inertial navigation system receiver for UAVs.

Launch of Innovative and Advanced IoT Based Electronic Devices is Propelling Growth of the Market

The consumer electronic industry has witnessed massive growth in developing economies like India and China. This growth is attributed to the increased adoption of consumer electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, tracking devices, and cameras. These devices have an integrated component that can enable advanced navigation features. For instance, India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) has announced that the Indian appliance and consumer electronics (ACE) market has generated USD 10.93 billion in 2019. GNSS chip integrated smartphones are widely used for various applications, including geo-marketing, mapping, gaming, navigation, and location-based services (LBS). Therefore, the growing adoption of consumer electronic devices has increased the demand for receivers and chips. Moreover, developing technologies such as 5G, IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), and industrial automation further increase the development of advanced consumer electronic devices. These factors are anticipated to raise the high demand for advanced solutions.

RESTRAINING FACTORS

High Initial Cost Associated with GNSS Upstream Component Is Expected to Hamper Market Growth

The space infrastructure required various components to deliver GNSS signals to the end-user. Therefore, to increase the availability of the signal, more space infrastructure is needed, such as new satellites, advanced network stations, and associated components. However, a very high cost is required to design a new space network station. These high initial investments associated with the upstream components will hamper the market growth. Despite this, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, IoT, 5G, and industrial automation are expected to create lucrative market size opportunities during the forecast period.

Growing Need to Protect Navigation Satellite Systems from Cyber Attacks to Affect Market Growth  

The disputes among neighboring countries are increasing with rapid economic development. The constant conflicts and growing geopolitical tension have changed the nature of war from physical to virtual. The cyber-attack poses a significant threat to space infrastructure systems such as navigation satellite stations as it plays a vital role in the military applications system. Therefore, protecting the navigation satellite system signal from cyber threats such as spoofing and jamming is a significant challenge to the market. This challenge can be overcome by using anti-jamming and anti-spoofing solutions that help to protect the signals from cyber threats.

SEGMENTATION

By Type Analysis

High Demand for Satellite-Based Augmentations System to Propel Market Growth at Faster Pace during Forecast Period

The market includes global constellations, regional constellations, and satellite-based augmentations based on type. The global constellation segment is estimated to grasp a dominant share in 2020. The global constellations type segment includes satellite constellations that provide global coverage for navigation services such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), and Galileo. GPS comprises 33 satellites; among them, 31 satellites are present in orbit. For instance, in June 2021, the authority over the recently launched GPS III SV05 was transferred to The U.S. Space Force’s 2^nd Space Operations Squadron. The GPS III provides advanced anti-jamming capabilities, improved accuracy, and increased resiliency for 4 billion users worldwide and GPS constellation. The GLONASS consists of 26 satellites; among them, 24 are present in orbit. Moreover, Galileo comprises 30 satellites; among them, 22 are present in orbit.

The regional constellations type segment includes satellite constellations that provide the regional coverage for navigation services such as Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC) and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). The NAVIC is a navigation satellite system that covers Indian Ocean Region (India and its surrounding area up to 1500 km). This navigation system is used to deliver precise real-time location and timings services. NAVIC constellation comprises seven satellites, and all are present in orbit. The QZSS regional constellation includes four satellites, and all are present in orbit.

The satellite-based augmentations (SBAS) segment is anticipated to grow during the forecast period attributed to no realization of the technology as a disruptive innovation until mid-2020. In June 2021, as per American Surveyor, various SBAS (Satellite-based Augmentation Systems) and its solution providers were anticipated to strengthen the market growth for the segment during the forecast period. The public SBAS systems are available such as EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), MSAS (MTSAT Satellite Augmentation System), and GAGAN (GPS-aided GEO Augmented Navigation).

By Application Analysis

Precision Agriculture Application Segment to Boost Market Growth at a Significant Rate

The market is segmented into rail, surveying, agriculture, LBS, timing synch, road, maritime, aviation, and others based on the application. Road application held key shares in 2020 and is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. Navigation satellites are used for numerous applications in LBS, such as navigation, mapping & GIS. In navigation, route planning, and real-time road navigation and pedestrian instructions. It is used in advertising and geo-marketing as customers get personalized offers through customer preferences and data positioning. It has other applications in LBS, such as enterprise applications, safety and emergency, sports, games and augmented reality, personal tracking, and social networking. 

Smart mobility applications improve the comfort, effectiveness, and efficiency of road transportation. Smart mobility, including navigation, fleet management, satellite road traffic monitoring, and traffic control, is gaining popularity due to the increased use of technologies to improve safety and safety. Toll operators also use the system in road user charging and insurance telemetric—improved facilities such as e-Call for ERA-GLONASS in Russia that sends automatic calls in case of an accident. Smart macrographs rely on GNSS positioning to support road enforcers in determining vehicle position.

Navigation satellite has been widely used for cadastral surveying for establishing property boundaries. It is also used in construction surveying, covering different engineering work and building construction stages. GNSS is used in machine control applications for automatically controlling blades and buckets of construction equipment based on 3D digital design, mapping to locate specific points for urban planning, environmental, and cartographic purposes, and mine surveying and infrastructure monitoring. Mine surveying includes operations related to the mine explorations and safety checks. Infrastructure monitoring involves critical infrastructure monitoring to prevent major disasters and emergencies.

REGIONAL INSIGHTS

The market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is projected to expand at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. The dominance of the U.S. is attributable to the multi-sensor data acquisition system for track mapping that is highly used in the country. Driver Advisory System (DAS) is highly adopted in Mexico and Canada for rail applications to optimize traffic flow, less energy, and low cost is anticipated to boost the market in North America. In the U.S., PTC (Positive Train Control) implementation is underway. PTC combines control, communications, information systems safety, security, precision, and efficiency for train movements and includes GNSS as a technology for positioning the train.

The European market is expected to grow at a moderate CAGR due to the strong presence of components manufacturers. The significant growth by the manufacturers is expected to perform strongly in Road, Surveying, and Maritime applications. 

Asia Pacific's global navigation satellite systems market is projected to be the fastest-growing by CAGR during the forecast period. China, Japan, India, and Australia support the primary revenue growth. The significant increase in China has been attributed to the large population of consumers, such as electronic devices, smartphones, positioning devices, and other vital applications. India has a substantial development in navigation satellites such as NAVIC. It has been developed for aviation, marine, automotive, and other critical applications.

Latin America &the Middle East & Africa was accounted for the less GNSS market share due to a hugely under-penetrated market. However, the adoption of navigation satellites in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt are likely to drive the growth for the Middle East & Africa region due to the increasing use of navigation satellites by rail operators and service providers in these countries.

KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS

Strong Portfolio has Propelled Qualcomm, Trimble, and Hexagon to Lead the Global Market

Due to major companies' strong product portfolios in developed and emerging countries, the market is fragmented. However, moderate entry barriers will increase domestic players entering the global market and a highly fragmented market by 2028. The market has several manufacturing companies operating across the globe. Some of the key players are Qualcomm Plc., Texas Instrument, Trimble, Rockwell Collins are among others. Other key vendors include Harris Corporation, Cobham Plc., and Laird Plc. has a strong presence through their products and services in this market. Introduction of innovative products, services, software, new product launch, strategic acquisition, partnership, and collaboration are some of the key strategies OEMs operating in this market.

LIST OF KEY COMPANIES PROFILED:

• Qualcomm Inc. (U.S.)


• Texas Instrument Inc. (U.S.)


• Trimble Inc. (U.S.)


• Rockwell Collins (U.S.)


• Broadcom Inc. (U.S.)


• Hexagon AB (Sweden)


• Furuno Electric Co. Ltd. (Japan)


• Laird Plc. (U.K.)


• Cobham Plc. (U.K.)


• L3Harris Corporation (U.S.)


• Topcon Corporation (Japan)

KEY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS:

• In July 2021 – Thales Alenia Space, ASECNA, Geoflex, and NigComSat are working for the accelerated development of A-SBAS (Satellite-Based Augmentation System for Africa and the Indian Ocean) for the delivery of precise point positioning (PPP and CNES/Geoflux) and risk warnings for various range of applications in Africa.


• In May 2020, Trimble announced the completion of its CenterPoint® RTX Fast correction service expansion, which will now cover a significant part of North America (the U.S. and Southern Canada). The development will be beneficial for on- and off-road markets’ autonomous applications and improvisation in the augmented positioning by industry professionals for their service coverage and performance. The service expansion will facilitate implementation, improved safety, operational efficiency, and productivity.

REPORT COVERAGE

The global navigation satellite system market research report provides a detailed market analysis. It focuses on key aspects such as leading companies, solutions offerings, component type, and leading applications of the product. Besides this, the navigation satellite report offers insights into the navigation satellite technology trends and highlights key industry developments. Additionally, to the factors mentioned above, the report encompasses several factors that have contributed to the growth of the advanced market over recent years.

Report Scope& Segmentation 

ATTRIBUTE	DETAILS
Study Period	2017-2028
Base Year	2020
Estimated Year	2021
Forecast Period	2021-2028
Historical Period	2017-2019
Unit	Value (USD billion)
Segmentation	By Type Global Constellations Regional Constellations Satellite-based Augmentation
By Application Rail Aviation Maritime Surveying Time Synch Agriculture LBS Road Others
By Region North America (By Type, By Application, By Country) U.S. (By Type) Canada (By Type) Europe (By Type, By Application, By Country) U.K. (By Type) Germany (By Type) France (By Type) Italy (By Type) Russia (By Type) Rest of Europe (By Type) Asia Pacific (By Type, By Application, By Country) Japan (By Type) China (By Type) India (By Type) Australia (By Type) South Korea (By Type) Southeast Asia (By Type) Rest of Asia Pacific (By Type) Latin America (By Type, By Application, By Country) Brazil (By Type) Argentina (By Type) Rest of Latin America (By Type) The Middle East& Africa (By Type, By Application, By Country) South Africa (By Type) Saudi Arabia (By Type) Egypt (By Type) Rest of the Middle East & Africa (By Type)