Cameras and Sensors Expected To Generate The Largest Market Share

A new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, "World Drone Payload Market by Type, End user, and Geography - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014 - 2022," projects that the world drone payload market is expected to garner in excess of $7 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 5.5% from 2016 to 2022. Cameras and sensors segment generated the largest market share in 2015 while the weaponry segment is expected to register highest growth rate during the forecast period. North America is expected to be the leading region in the global market throughout 2022.

A rise in budgetary expenses in defense sector, increased market for location-based services, growing adoption of drones, increasing need of mapping services, and growing use of aerial imaging services across various industries are expected to drive the growth of world drone payload industry. In addition, the adoption of drone payload products, such as high-definition action cameras, motion sensors, thermal sensors, laser sensors, CBRN sensors, and infrared sensors have increased significantly among defense agencies worldwide for signal intelligence (SIGINT), electronic intelligence (Elint), surveillance, and other applications.

Increased use of drones for crop management and green mapping has fueled the demand for drone payloads among agriculture and environment segment. However, issues related to personal safety and variations in aviation laws in specific regions limit the growth of this unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) payload market. Moreover, promising growth rate of drone market and increased market for location-based services are expected to provide lucrative opportunity for market growth.

In the year 2015, cameras and sensors accounted for the maximum revenue shares in the overall drone payload market due to increased adoption in military, geospatial, and agricultural applications. In addition, the radar and communication is expected to witness the fastest growth at CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period due to increased use of maritime patrol radar (MPR), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), communication intelligence (Comint) and others.

The defense sector dominated the global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) payload market in 2015 due to increase in military expenditure, rise in adoption of drones for surveillance, and growth in combat and security operations owing to increased incidences of violence worldwide. Furthermore, agriculture and environment segment is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period due to increase in demand for drones for various applications such as crop health management, water resource management, estimation of soil productivity, and others.

"Asia-Pacific is projected to grow fastest during the forecast period due to strong economic growth; increase in military expenditure; increased applications areas such as precision agriculture, GIS, and traffic management; and growth in demand for drones in countries, including India, Japan, Australia, and China," states lead analysts, Pankaj Lanjudkar, ICT & Media Research, AMR. North America accounted for majority of the global market share in 2015, and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. Introduction of supportive regulations coupled with high budgets on military expenditure is expected to boost sales in this region. Recently in 2015, Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA) announced regulations that permit small UAVs that weigh less than 55 pounds to be used for commercial purposes.

Key findings of the Drone Payload Market study:

• In the year 2015, cameras and sensors segment dominated the overall drone payload market in terms of revenue, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period
• Weaponry segment is expected to grow at a reasonable CAGR of 5.6%
• Agriculture and environment segment is projected to grow at a highest CAGR of 6.7%
• Defense segment is projected to generate the highest revenue in the market in 2015
• In the year 2015, North America generated the highest revenue among all regions in the world drone payload market

AeroVironment, Inc., SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd., Parrot SA, Thales Group, FLIR Systems, Inc., and Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. are some of the prominent players in the market. Market players focus on technological advancements of products and partnerships & acquisitions for expansion in the market. For instance, in May 2016, ELTA Systems Ltd., a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., launched ELI-3332 payload to expand its customer base and increase product offerings in the market.

(Source: Allied Market Research news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.alliedmarketresearch.com/aerospace-&-defence-market-report