MEMS to innovate inertial measurement market, says report

Yole gives an overview of high-end inertial applications, including defence, commercial aerospace and industrial. Yole’s report includes expected milestones for each high-end inertial technology in terms of future development.

The IMU market is very concentrated, and Yole says that a few big companies dominate. Honeywell, Northrop Grumman Litef and Sagem are the clear leaders. Honeywell is the global leader, with great success in RLG-based systems and successful deployment of MEMS technology.Meanwhile, the MEMS accelerometer market is growing thanks to cost and size reduction, while other technologies are in decline. In-house accelerometer production is a trend followed by more players in this area, such as iXBlue and UTC Aerospace/AIS Goodrich, enabling better integration and performance.

Consolidation and co-operation in this industry is continuing. For example, recently, TowerJazz and Physical Logic announced production of high performance MEMS-based accelerometers for inertial navigation applications. TowerJazz’s 0.18μm MEMS modular process and MEMS controller were used for Physical Logic’s accelerometer and ASIC devices respectively, in order to achieve the superior specifications required for sensitivity, stability, small form factor and low power consumption.

“Many newcomers are looking to enter the market with low-cost MEMS-based products and different approaches”, said Guillaume Girardin, Technology & Market Analyst, MEMS & Sensors, Yole. “Players like Innalabs, Sensonor or Tronics Microsystems, could play a major role in the coming years. If further proof was needed; Thales bought 50% of the shares available in Tronics Microsystems’ IPO a few days ago, betting it will disrupt the market with new applications in the near future. Many factors are shaping tomorrow’s competitive landscape including technology capabilities, product maturity level, geography and the composition of the value chain.”

“At Yole, we expect more dynamic growth near term in this global market because of two factors,” announced Claire Troadec, Technology & Market Analyst, MEMS Manufacturing, Yole. “First, while in the defense and aerospace sectors the US and European markets are best described as conservative and mature, many new programs are being launched in China, Russia, Brazil, and the Middle East. These will provide a high level of demand. Second, low-cost emerging MEMS are fueling growth of the IMU market and opening doors for many new applications. The 2014 market for high-performance gyroscopes, which was estimated at $1.37B, is therefore expected to grow at a 4.4% annual rate to reach $1.69B in 2019.”