What are your challenges this year? How are you driving business in today’s economy? What issues are you concerned about? How much accuracy do you require?
We want to know, and so does the rest of the industry.
GPS World is asking PNT professionals about the state of their business, the economic climate for GNSS products and services, driving market factors, the effects of jamming, the Issue of the Year — and more! Please take the 2016 State of the Industry Survey. It should take approximately 10 minutes, and your responses are confidential.
A handful of lucky participants drawn at random will win:
TWO $100 gift cards good (virtually) anywhere;
a pair of tickets to GPS World’s 2016 Leadership Dinner held during ION GNSS+ (or a voucher for a comparable dinner in your hometown).
Complete the survey by August 17 — not much time! Then look for a complete report of our findings in the September issue of GPS World. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and help us improve our magazine content, industry awareness — and your own business!
Reliable, consistent positioning accuracy has always driven new product development in the survey and mapping sector of the GPS/GNSS market. It’s remarkable how quickly the provided accuracy in successive new survey products over the years has increased the required accuracy from users and customers in the field, and consequently the desired accuracy in a feedback loop to the product developers.
In other words, the degree of required accuracy has risen steadily over the three and a half decades since GPS was born. “Accuracy is addictive.” Somebody said that in the second decade of GPS development, that is, sometime in the 1990s. This statement continues to hold true, as true for this industry as Moore’s Law does for computer technology as a whole.
Moore’s Law states that overall processing power for computers will double every two years; as a corollary or an extension, the size of said computers gets cut in half every two years, and the cost (sometimes) also comes down by 50 percent. Moore’s Law in action in the GPS/GNSS industry has driven the product developments that we have consistently seen for many years.
We have seen the gradual tightening of accuracy requirements across all sectors of the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) community with each passing year and with each new State of the Industry Report. This is the first time we have seen it cross the 1-centimeter line. Not in capability; sub-centimeter capability has been available for some time. But now that level of performance is the minimum acceptable “good enough” for more respondents in the survey and high-precision sector than any lesser degree of accuracy; in fact, greater than all other ranges combined.
To put this into measurable, statistical form, GPS World has just released its fourth annual “State of the GNSS Industry Report.” In the years that we have conducted the survey, the accuracy required for the majority of survey applications has steadily come down. No surprises here.
In 2013, those who said that the majority of this market sector needed accuracy of better than a centimeter amounted to only 8 percent of total respondents.
In 2014, this group rose dramatically to 35 percent, while close to a majority, or 47 percent, held that a range of 1 to 5 centimeters was “good enough.”
Now, in this year of 2015, the majority has shifted clearly to the side of 1 centimeter or better as the new standard of required precision; 51.25 percent held this view. From 8 percent to more than half in just two years — that’s some change!
How accurate is good enough for the majority of this sector?
Fewer people believe that a survey done completely on a computer and driven by remote-sensor data will occur in less than five years. Counter to last year’s expectations, most now think it will take longer than five years to come about.
How soon will a survey be performed entirely from a computer, using high-resolution satellite and/or UAV-collected data, without any instrumented field work?
Those who are addicted to 1-centimeter accuracy form the new majority. Their preferences and their behaviors will rule the positioning world, not just in survey, but across all sectors supplied by GNSS and increasingly by a broad range of PNT technologies: defense, transportation, UAVs, machine control, precision agriculture, and much more. These other sectors will presumably answer likewise — “1 centimeter accuracy, that’s what I need!” in coming years, following the trail blazed by the you high-precision surveying pioneers.
We have crossed the Rubicon. Unlike other obsessive behaviors, there is no going back in our case. This path is a one-way road to to the promised land of always-on, always-true, near-perfect provision of positioning.
How much effort are you devoting to mitigation of GNSS jamming or spoofing?
The 2015 State of the GNSS Industry Report reveals the results of our annual survey of GNSS professionals, covering the state of their business, the economic climate for GNSS products and services, driving market factors, the government’s role in funding and regulating, budgets devoted to R&D, the effects of jamming, and the “Issue of the Year.” Download the 2015 State of the GNSS Industry Report.
How accurate is good enough for the majority of your market sector? This chart show the answers from those who identified themselves as members of the survey and high-precision community. For more results from this and other sectors, see the 2015 State of the GNSS Industry Report.
Memory fails as to who first said “Accuracy is addictive.” Or perhaps it’s my knowledge base that is deficient. At any rate, I’ll gladly publish documented evidence from anyone who can show the earliest — print or audio — expression of that dictum. It continues to hold as true for this industry as Moore’s Law does for computer technology as a whole.
We have seen the gradual tightening of accuracy requirements across all sectors of the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) community with each successive iteration of our State of the GNSS Industry Survey, now in its fourth year. This is the first time we have seen it cross the 1-centimeter line. Not in capability; sub-centimeter capability has been available for some time. But now that level of performance is the minimum acceptable “good enough” for more respondents in the survey and high-precision sector than any lesser degree of accuracy; in fact, greater than all other ranges combined. These addicts form the new majority. Their preferences and their behaviors will rule our world.
Other sectors will presumably answer likewise in coming years, following the trail blazed by the high-precision pioneers.
We have crossed the Rubicon. Unlike other obsessive behaviors, there is no going back in our case. This path is a one-way road to — well, not to the various hells entailed by other addictions — but to the promised land of always-on, always-true, near-perfect provision of positioning.
Let’s not kid ourselves, however. The perfect world does not exist. The closer we get to millimetric accuracy, the more obstacles we find in our way. Indoor continuity aka ubiquity, jamming, spoofing, hacking, budget cutbacks, slides to the right — this list will surely grow.
The more acute our addiction, the lower our tolerance for less-than-total fulfillment.
Sometimes you have to stop and, yes, smell the roses, but also survey just how far you’ve come, where you stand at this actual moment, and what directions hold the most promise for the future. When you’re moving as fast as the GNSS and PNT industries do, a periodic pause to assess becomes even more vital.
That’s why we conduct the annual State of the Industry Survey, which generates the State of the Industry Report.
Your part in this, the Survey, starts July 15, when the online survey will be posted at env-gpsworld-integration.kinsta.cloud/State15, and remain at that link until August 10.
Our part, the Report of your filings, will appear in the September issue.
Past State of the Industry Reports have borne such insights as these.
September 2012. “Careful optimism appears to be the watchword for the GNSS industry as we head into the next year, tempered with the reality that a full economic recovery has not yet arrived; 65 percent of respondents described the market for GNSS products and services as enjoying either moderate growth or strong growth. ‘With the economy in the state it is in, competition is very tight. That is all right, it keeps our pencils sharp,’ wrote one industry veteran.”
September 2013. After the passage of one year, 69 percent described the market for products and services in their sector as either relatively healthy or very healthy. That’s what’s known in economic circles as “a modest increase.”
Dominating executives’ and managers’ awareness as a key issue shaping the future that year were three candidates, according to John Pottle of Spirent Communications. “Vulnerability of GNSS signals, the flurry of activity following the release of the BeiDou system ICD, and the continuing indoor navigation challenge. Whatever your viewpoint, one thing is clear: there remain plenty of challenges for us all, as indusry insiders, to solve over the coming years.”
October 2014. With another 13 months under our collective belt, we had not fully mastered any of those top three challenges — but we had logged significant progress. Jamming, both intentional and unintentional, along with spoofing led all concerns for 28 percent of survey respondents, and if “constellation health” were added to those worries, fully half of our experts — meaning you — deemed this the industry “issue of the year.” Meanwhile, the percentage of those finding moderate to strong growth in their sector had risen to 74.
Michael Ritter of NovAtel spoke for many when he wrote, “Ultimately, GNSS itself will no longer be enough. Ubiquitous positioining requires multi-sensor fusion that can exponentially increase availability.” And he revealed that NovAtel spends 30 percent of its annual revenue on research and development.
The Future Begins Now. Only you, in your collective wisdom, can tell us where we stand and where we’re headed. I encourage you to help us compile the State of the Industry by filling out a relatively quick online questionnaire. Look for it to be posted on July 15.
The 2014 State of the GNSS Industry Report reveals the results of our annual survey of GNSS professionals, covering the state of their business, the economic climate for GNSS products and services, driving market factors, the government’s role in funding and regulating, budgets devoted to R&D, the effects of jamming, and the “Issue of the Year.”Click here to download the 2014 State of the Industry Survey, sponsored by NovAtel, Trimble, and u-blox.
JEFF FEHLBERG, winner of the drawing for a Trimble Juno T41, grand prize in the 2013 State of the Industry Survey. You, too, can be this lucky!
Like Olympic athletes, doctors without borders, and magicians, members of the GNSS community constitute an informal international group that gathers periodically, in different centers around the world, to share knowledge and advance their craft. It is due and fitting, perhaps even necessary, that we also try to summarize or collect our views about ourselves, our field, and our future. The State of the Industry Survey is an effort to do just that.
Last year’s Survey drew 893 responses from I lost count of how many countries; the results were published in the September issue. The questions for the 2014 Survey appear on the pages immediately following, and the online interactive Surveyis now live, through the end of August. You can win cool stuff simply by answering 20 questions.
Displayed here are last year’s top prize winners. Jeff Fehlberg, a mobile business analyst from Tritech Software Systems in Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered the rugged handheld Trimble.
John Zittere of Engility Corporation in Hollywood, Maryland, sent along a selfie with giftie, and a few comments: “I really do enjoy reading GPS World and I also suggest it to our new-hire engineers. Here are a few pics from our Automated Aerial Refueling tests in Niagara, New York (see below).”
JOHN ZITTERE with his dinner ticket, the second raffle prize from the 2013 survey.
Also receiving gift cards for completing the 2013 Survey: Jinghui Wu of Kensington, New South Wales, Australia; Dr. S.M.A. Rizvi from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India; and Rui Barradas Pereira of GMV in Lisbon, Portugal.
CALSPAN Lear Jet with the probe (non-functional but flight ready).AAR016, view of the tanker drogue from the Lear Jet.
GPS World magazine has opened the first State of the Industry Survey for completion by GNSS industry members; the interactive form is found at env-gpsworld-integration.kinsta.cloud/industrysurvey. The results of the Survey, compiled and analyzed, will appear in the September issue of the magazine, as the very first State of the Industry Report, accompanied by an economic study titled “GNSS and the Economy: Scenarios for the World and Some Implications for the Industry.”
Participation in the survey is open to all members of the GNSS community; however, it is necessarily focused on industry, not academia or government. Its core questions address business outlook, issues of business concern, revenue ranges, and GNSS products supplied, specified, or purchased.
The State of the Industry report in the September issue will draw from the survey to cover such topics as:
The global economy and how it affects business in each GNSS sector: Customers’ availability of capital to invest is top-of-mind for most industry professionals, whether designers, manufacturers, integrators, suppliers/dealers, or end users.
Industry confidence in the road ahead: is the prolonged recession over, or still ongoing? Are customers expanding aggressively or proceeding cautiously?
Investment for return: how are suppliers implementing their business outlook? What priority do they allocate to cutting expenses, maintaining current sources of revenue, increasing sales to core clients, developing new customers, R&D for new products or services, exploring mergers or acquisitions or IPOs — or something else?
Issues of concern: to what extent do industry leaders take into account pricing and competion; GNSS jamming, spoofing, other RF interference; compatibility or interoperability issues among GNSSs; funding for satellite system development or modernization; funding for application development; Manufacturer readiness for coming new GNSS constellations; and compatibility/interoperability issues with open-architecture non-GNSS positioning systems.
The State of the Industry Report will receive wide distribution, to the full subscription base of both print and digital magazine, and bonus distribution at ION-GNSS in Nashville, Tennessee (September), InterGeo in Hanover, Germany (October), and other outlets.
Prize Drawing.Incentives for participation in the survey include entry into a drawing for an iPad3, a pair of tickets to GPS World’s Leadership Dinner in Nashville during ION-GNSS, a surprise offering, and coffee-shop gift cards. A majority of the questions must be answered to qualify for the prize drawing. As the survey is business-focused, some non-industry community members in academia or government may find that they cannot answer many of the questions. Their participation is still encouraged, even if they do not qualify for the drawing.
What are your challenges this year? How are you driving business in today’s economy? What issues are you concerned about? How much accuracy do you require?
