5G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi key to Value Proposition for Industrial Smart Glasses

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24 Jan 2018

In the second iteration of its Industrial Internet Connectivity Tracker, ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies, forecasts that the manufacturing sector will have an installed base of 25 million connected smart glasses worldwide by 2026 with a CAGR of 95% from 2017-2026.

Many of these smart glasses augmented reality (AR) headsets will require reliable, high-bandwidth, low-latency connections. In this report, ABI Research forecasts the growth of eleven connectivity technologies not only for Industrial Smart Glasses but also for Robotics & PLCs and Other Equipment Monitoring.

“Wired technologies and protocols have traditionally dominated industrial applications, especially on the factory floor, and they won’t go away,” says Pierce Owen, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. “In fact, the number of fixed-line connections will continue to grow, but new, mobile, dynamic IIoT applications will demand wireless technologies as well. We already see this with increased adoption of LPWA and Bluetooth in the IIoT, and 5G with network slicing. All will empower manufacturers to deploy more high-bandwidth, low-latency, mission-critical wireless applications.”

Over 2.7 million of the 25 million connected Industrial Smart Glasses will connect over a 5G connection by 2026. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will account for more of the connections due to the desire to minimize connectivity costs, but glasses with Bluetooth will face bandwidth and latency limitations. Wi-Fi will have the bandwidth, but not the reliability necessary for mission-critical applications.

“As connectivity becomes more streamlined, smart glasses will ultimately provide real value in manufacturing, reducing training time on the assembly line, allowing for more custom orders and improving quality control, repair, and maintenance with vision machine learning,” concludes Owen.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Industrial Internet Connectivity Tracker. This report is part of the company’s Smart Manufacturing research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights.

About ABI Research

ABI Research provides strategic guidance for visionaries needing market foresight on the most compelling transformative technologies, which reshape workforces, identify holes in a market, create new business models and drive new revenue streams. ABI’s own research visionaries take stances early on those technologies, publishing groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms. ABI analysts deliver their conclusions and recommendations in easily and quickly absorbed formats to ensure proper context. Our analysts strategically guide visionaries to take action now and inspire their business to realize a bigger picture. For more information about ABI Research’s forecasting, consulting and teardown services, visionaries can contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com.

About ABI Research

ABI Research is a global technology intelligence firm uniquely positioned at the intersection of technology solution providers and end-market companies. We serve as the bridge that seamlessly connects these two segments by providing exclusive research and expert guidance to drive successful technology implementations and deliver strategies proven to attract and retain customers.

ABI Research 是一家全球性的技术情报公司,拥有得天独厚的优势,充当终端市场公司和技术解决方案提供商之间的桥梁,通过提供独家研究和专业性指导,推动成功的技术实施和提供经证明可吸引和留住客户的战略,无缝连接这两大主体。

For more information about ABI Research’s services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific, or visit www.abiresearch.com.

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