After introducing the main relevant location technologies and giving a brief overview of how they work in the context of indoor location, this presentation provides qualitative assessment of the Real-Time Location System (RTLS) market, coupled with ABI Research’s forecasts for the different verticals and technologies in this ecosystem. Disruptive forces for RTLS are identified and their role in the current and future ecosystem is discussed. Particular attention is given to the problem of scalability, and several potential ways to alleviate these issues and drive scalability are discussed.
The verticals for which forecasts are given and assessed are the same as the ones in MD-RTLS, namely: Financial, Healthcare, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Public Venues, Retail, Sports, and Transportations and Logistics. The indoor location technologies taken into consideration are Bluetooth, Active RFID, Wi-Fi, UWB, VLC, Small Cells, and Ultrasound. Separate discussion is provided around Sensor Fusion, which is not a standalone technology, but rather a capability added on top of any of the previous technologies to improve location accuracy or augment data.