Europe Inertial Systems Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Europe Inertial System Market was valued at USD 11.5 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 15.1 billion by 2027 and grow at a CAGR of 5.54% over the forecast period 2022-2027.

Key Highlights

• According to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, around 12.9 million motor vehicles are manufactured in the European Union per year. The automobile is one of the big industries in Europe. Big giants of the automobile industry are from this region like Audi, Skoda, BMW, Mercedes, and VW. A lot of technological innovations in the automobile industry occur in this area. Inertial sensors are a very important part of automobiles these days. They are used in various systems ranging from ABS to air-bag deployment and even in anti-theft features. The automotive industry growth in this region will help the inertial systems market to grow.
• The advancement of the global lifestyle has resulted in the need for equipment with greater ease of use. This has enabled the use of motion-sensing technology, which uses inertial sensors extensively. This is a key driving factor to this market and will play an important role in defining the market for the next few years.
• The unprecedented rise in unmanned vehicles across various applications in both civilian and defense applications has increased the need for complex navigational systems that include inertial sensors. The rapid advancement in technology has made sensors both accessible and affordable which have made their use abundant in day-to-day devices. For Instance, in France, a self-driving bus has become Europe's first vehicle to be approved to travel totally independently on public roads. Since March 2021, the driverless EZ10 shuttle, which can carry up to 12 passengers, has been tested in France. However, the French Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of the Environment allowed the bus's use without a human attendant.
• The defense industry takes the major share of the market with applications like missile guidance, control and targeting, precision-guided munitions, tank turret stabilization, and torpedo guidance. The other primary industries where these systems are used are industrial manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure, transportation, and aviation.
• Commercial operations have been temporarily halted due to the pandemic crisis. Due to the disturbance in the process, system components are in short supply, and demand for unmanned vehicles for commercial operations such as oil tank testing, pipeline inspection, windmill inspection, and field mapping is down. Furthermore, during the lockdown, vital industrial units around the world are shut down. This has an impact on the development of inertial navigation system components, which has a direct impact on the market's growth.

Europe Inertial Systems Market Trends

Increasing Demand in Accuracy to Drive the Market

• A high level of accuracy and reliability are the prime features of a navigational system. Inertial navigational systems have a distinct advantage over other forms of navigation systems in terms of their lack of dependence on external aids to determine the rotation and acceleration of a moving object. These systems make use of a combination of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers to determine the vector variables of a vehicle or a moving object.
• Navigational systems are inherently suited for use in integrated navigation, control, and guidance of vehicles in challenging environs. Unlike GPS and other kinds of navigation systems, inertial systems can retain their performance even under difficult conditions. Inertial measurement units (IMU) are well suited for navigational systems to calculate several metrics. These systems remain unaffected by radiation and jamming problems. Strapdown inertial systems find more usage in inertial navigation systems than gimbaled systems, as they are strapped to the moving object and offer better reliability and performance. Moreover, they provide cost-effectiveness as they are incorporated with MEMS techniques.
• As advanced technologies such as AI and Machine Learning become more widely adopted, advanced robotics cars that can be controlled remotely via sensor technology are becoming more common. Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and Unmanned Ground Vehicles are all being updated thanks to this new technology. As a result, in today's battle scenario, accurate position parameters, such as altitude and orientation of tactical grade equipment, are important.
• Inertial navigation systems are now being made available for commercial use in private aircraft, UAVs, military and defense units. They form an integral part of the navigational control systems and are also able to interact with other navigational systems due to incremental advancements in the processing ability of the systems. Several forms of inertial systems like magnetometers are widely used for determining the orientation and presence of a magnetic field in conjunction with other forms of inertial systems.
• Multi-axis systems like IMUs and AHRS are being used for determining the altitude, position, acceleration, and velocity of moving objects. Inertial systems are deemed to be ideal for providing high accuracy in navigational systems by using a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers.

Emergence of MEMS Technology will drive the Market

• The large-scale adoption of inertial systems was significantly constrained by large size and exorbitant costs. There has been a paradigm shift in inertial systems manufacturing techniques after the turn of the century.
• The emergence of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology resulted in the miniaturization of mechanical and electro-mechanical elements in the field of sensors and semiconductors through the use of micro-fabrication and micro-machining techniques. MEMS has now become an indisputable part of future navigation systems. The growth in this technology has been driven by the growing pressure on contract manufacturers to reduce the size of inertial systems to make them suitable for wider applications. MEMS greatly supported the rapid increase in portable devices, as it offered enhanced capabilities within a small unit size. The inertial MEMS market forecast predicts a dramatic rise in the volume of inertial MEMS devices over the coming years.
• The advancements in MEMS technology are not just restricted to niche and research-grade applications; several commercial grade inertial systems have also been made available in the market. These devices are integrated with GPS aiding tools to provide comprehensive navigation solutions.
• MEMS technology is of particular interest for IMU and AHRS inertial systems. MEMS-driven IMUs are being used in numerous applications, ranging from defense to a broad new range of commercial applications. The cost of commercial-grade MEMS IMU decreased considerably due to increased competition and plunging component costs; however, these devices remain elusive to small and medium scale companies.
• Similarly, AHRS systems have been able to successfully incorporate MEMS-based gyroscope and accelerometer to reduce the complexity and overall size of the system. MEMS technology is expected to drive the next wave of innovation in inertial systems. Several companies have been focusing on their R&D operations to design MEMS units with enhanced capabilities. The large-scale adoption of inertial systems is highly dependent on MEMS systems.

Europe Inertial Systems Market Competitor Analysis

The Europe Inertial Systems Market is fragmented moderately due to the presence of various inertial systems solution providers. However, the vendors are consistently focusing on product development to enhance their visibility and presence. The companies are also undergoing strategic partnerships and acquisitions to gain market traction and increase their market share.

• January 2021 - Honeywell has won new money from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the next generation of inertial sensor technology, which will be used in commercial and defense navigation applications in the future. Honeywell lab studies recently revealed that the new sensors are more than an order of magnitude more precise than Honeywell's HG1930 inertial measurement unit (IMU), a tactical-grade device with more than 150,000 units in operation.
• October 2021 - The US Navy has received the 500th WSN-7 ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation system (INS) from Northrop Grumman Corporation. Northrop Grumman continues to support the US and NATO surface and submarine naval assets around the world, with installations across the US Navy Fleet.

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