Skip to Content

Navigation market

Initially satellite navigation developed for the benefit of military applications. Today navigation technologies used in 3.5 billion devices for different purposes throughout the world.

First civilian technologies that used the signals of global navigation satellite systems appeared on the market in mid-1980s. They were solutions for aviation and shipping. In 1990s, satellite navigation applications appeared for geodesy, cartography, land registry, and construction. By beginning of the 21st century, navigation market was already global, but remained a niche market: highly specialized and with insignificant volume.

Mainstream navigation market was launched on year 2000, when U.S. turned off the Selective Availability feature (intentional degradation of the GPS signal). From this day, the precision of navigation services for civilian users improved by an order of magnitude – to 10 meters. This leap in consumer value of satellite navigation was supported by an increase in private investments into development of new navigation applications, chipsets, equipment, and services, as well as into related technology segments, first and foremost – digital cartography.

With the development of technologies and the growth of market size the cost of the navigation equipment and solutions decreased that made them accessible to new categories of consumers - an exponential growth of the market and its segmentation began: navigation chips, equipment, systems, solutions and services.

Two satellite navigation systems: GLONASS (Russia) and GPS (USA) provide global coverage with a signal around the world.

Global satellite navigation systems

  • GLONASS: Russian GNSS, which provides global coverage since 2011.
  • GPS: first GNSS, managed by the Ministry of Defense, was put into operation in 1995.

Regional satellite navigation systems

  • Galileo: the European satellite navigation system, which is planned to provide global coverage by 2018, according to the plan of development.
  • BeiDou: Chinese satellite navigation system, which was launched in 2000, is operated by the Chinese Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO). Global coverage is planned by 2020.
  • IRNSS: Indian satellite navigation system, which, in accordance with the development plan, will provide regional coverage by 2016.
  • QZSS: Japanese satellite navigation system, which, in accordance with the development plan, will provide regional coverage by 2017.

SBAS - Space Based Augmentation System («Refinement» space-based systems): System WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) - for North America, the system EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Services) - for the European territory, and the system MSAS - for the territory of Japan and some countries in Southeast Asia.

 

GLONASS is a global technology standard: more than 50% of navigation devices use GLONASS.

 

There will 8 billion navigation devices in the world by 2020. The boundaries of market segments continue to blur as a result of the convergence of information, navigation and communication equipment, systems and services. It is expected a boom in innovative navigation - the appearance of many new products, since the navigation market is at the crossroads of 4 global high-tech industries, which themselves are going through today stage innovative growth: information technology, telecommunications, automotive and microelectronics.

European Commission, March 2015

New technological drivers of the global navigation market:

  • capitalization of «connected vehicle» (Connected Car) opportunities: information, security, payment, insurance, technical assistance and other services;
  • technology development of V2X - exchange of information «vehicle-vehicle» V2V, «vehicle-infrastructure» V2I, «vehicle-person» V2P;
  • development of navigation technologies for autonomous vehicles (robomobiles,  unmanned vehicles) and robots;
  • technology (equipment and services) for a single user navigation: satellite, inertial, indoor;
  • navigation technologies of high accuracy and reliability guaranteed.

The main driver of the Russian navigation market is the commercialization of «ERA-GLONASS» infrastructure in terms of equipment and services. A national protected navigation and information platform serving the interests of the federal, departmental and regional systems of Russian and foreign business will be unified on the basis of the «ERA-GLONASS».

Additional drivers of navigation market and the development of GLONASS navigation technologies are: the program of transport equipment with devices for work and rest of drivers control (tachographs), a system of compensation for harm caused by roads of federal vehicles having a maximum permissible weight of over 12 tons, intelligent transport systems.

Another direction of development is export of solutions «ERA-GLONASS» and GLONASS technologies abroad, primarily to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, SCO and BRICS.