ULTRASONIC SENSORS MARKET ANALYSIS

The global ultrasonic sensors market size was valued at USD 5,434.2 million in 2022 and is anticipated to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.84% from 2023 to 2030.  The ultrasonic sensors market has witnessed a substantial growth over the years owing to the emergence of advanced technologies in these devices. Moreover, the increase in the number of accidents and injuries is also fueling the growth of this market. The increased focus on safety is also encouraging the manufacturers to invest in ultrasonic sensors and other advanced technology.  

Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market: Regional Insights

Asia Pacific is expected to gain major share in the global ultrasonic sensors market during the forecast period. This is attributed to expansion of manufacturing facilities by automakers in the region. The presence of electronic product manufacturing industry and several automobile manufacturers in the region is strong. Moreover, governments of countries in Asia Pacific, such as Japan are focused on deployment of autonomous vehicles.

Furthermore, North America also anticipated to show substantial growth in the global ultrasonic sensors market during the forecast period. As the U.S. is one of the most technologically developed economy the use of ultrasonic sensors is naturally high in the region. Furthermore, presence of multiple MNCs in the region driving the investments in smart production and process automation. Moreover, Canada is witnessing rise in safety concerns along with increasing scope of an autonomous vehicle in the region. These factors are thus expected to boost growth of the global ultrasound sensors market in the region over the forecast future.

Figure 1. Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market Share (%), By Region, 2022

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Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market Drivers:

Increasing applications across several industries to boost the market pace

The use of ultrasonic sensors is widespread across various industrial areas. These sensors are used in medical sector for ultrasonography; in the automotive filed, they are utilized in parking assistance systems and gesture recognition; they are utilized in smart homes, fingerprint sensors, and smart robots in the consumer segment applications. Furthermore, in industrial applications, ultrasonic sensors are used in non-destructive testing and automation of flow, volume, and thickness measurements. Such widespread applications of these sensors are expected to augment growth of the global ultrasonic sensors market during the forecast period.

Growing product developments to propel growth of the market

Several vendors in the market are increasingly focusing on research and development of novel products of ultrasonic sensors. For instance, in April 2021, The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS announced the development of strong, versatile, and reliable ultrasonic sensors. As these sensors are small in size, the micromachined UTs offer highly compact, energy saving, eco-friendly and multifunctional sensor system. Due to such increasing initiatives by many organizations and companies in the market, the demand for ultrasonic sensors is likely to grow. This in turn is anticipated to accelerate growth of the global ultrasonic sensors market during the forecast period.

Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market Opportunities:

Rise in number of research projects to increase efficiency of sensors is likely to create growth opportunities in the global ultrasonic sensors market during the forecast period. For instance, in November 2020, “Spartacus”, a European research project was launched. The name of this project stands for “spatially resolved acoustic, mechanical, and ultrasonic sensing for smart batteries. The applications of these sensors are increasing in various battery powered products. Thus, several research projects are focusing on increasing efficiency of ultrasonic sensors to offer longer stability of performance, faster charging, for various battery powered products including EVs and smartphones. Thus, this factor will bring in multiple opportunities in the market.

Increasing development of ultrasonic sensors along with their integration with data collection points is anticipated to create business opportunities in the global ultrasonic sensors market during the forecast period. Ultrasonic handheld devices have become an important technology; however, when coupled with capabilities of internet, the technology can offer robust monitoring solutions with the use of ultrasonic sensors connected to devices that are network-enabled. The sensors can gather data from assets and transfer it to central devices for data processing. With this, maintenance and reliability programs can be improved significantly. Thus, this factor is likely to create lucrative opportunities in the market.

Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market Trends:

Changing dynamics in the ultrasonic sensors is an upward trend in the market

The ultrasonic sensors market is witnessing changing dynamics, as technological advancement continues to increase across various industries. There are various IIoT bearing monitoring systems in the market, such as the On-Trak, a remote Industrial Internet of Things technology based monitoring system for bearings and other mechanical assets using several sensors. This On-Trak system consists of 16 sensors and a central processor, which can connect to the network through Wi-Fi, cellular data, or Ethernet. Such changing dynamics in the market is a growing trend, which is likely to accelerate the market growth in the near future.

Increasing growth of automotive industry is a growing trend

The sales and production of automobiles along with rise in customer expenditures, is driving the automobile industry. This in turn is likely to boost the demand for ultrasonic sensors in this industry. For instance, according to Coherent Market Insights, the number of motor vehicles manufactured increased from 78 million in 2020 to 80 million in 2021, all over the world. Ultrasonic sensors are used in several applications in this industry, as they are important in developing technologies such as autonomous vehicles, and driver assistance. Thus, increasing growth of automotive industry is likely to drive the demand for ultrasonic sensors in the coming future.

Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market Restraints:

Functional flaws of ultrasonic sensors to hinder the market pace

Many of the ultrasonic sensors are capable of efficiently measuring distances up to 400cm with a slight tolerance of 3mm. However, when a target object is placed in a way that ultrasonic signals deflect way instead of reflecting back to the sensors, the distance calculated can be inaccurate. Moreover, objects such as carpet and fabric absorb acoustic signals, due to which it fails to reflect back to the ultrasonic sensors, and this in turn disrupts measurement of the distance. Thus, such functional flaws of these sensors are expected to hamper growth of the global ultrasonic sensors market during the forecast period. However, key players in the market are involved in the development more efficient and accurate ultrasonic sensors technology, which will support the market growth in the coming years.

Availability of radar sensors to limit the adoption of ultrasonic sensors

Ultrasonic sensors continue to face intense competition from vendors that provide radar sensors. This in turn is likely to impact adoption of ultrasonic sensors, which is expected to hinder growth of the global ultrasonic sensors market over the forecast period. For instance, in March 2020, VEGA introduced a novel Radar level sensors for replacing Ultrasonics in the water industry. This novel radar level device of VEGA defies buildup for delivering accurate measurements in the industry of water and wastewater. Such innovations in turn are likely to obstruct the market growth in the forecast future. 

Figure 2. Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market, By Technology

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Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market Segmentation:

The global ultrasonic sensors market report is segmented into Technology and End User Vertical.

Based on Technology, the market is segmented into Bulk Piezoelectric Transducer, Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers (MUT). Out of which, Bulk Piezoelectric Transducer is expected to dominate the global market over the forecast period and this is attributed to the growing use of bulk piezoelectric transducer ultrasonic sensors in several industries, owing to their advantages. Piezoelectric sensors use the piezoelectric effect for measuring changes in strain, pressure, acceleration, force or temperature through conversion of the energy into an electric change. These sensors do not require any external force, and are easy to use and handle due to their small dimensions. Moreover they offer a high frequency response. Thus, due to such advantages of these transducers, their demand is increasing in several industries. This factor is likely to propel growth of the segment in the near future.

Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers segment is also expected to witness significant growth in the near future and this is owing to the rise in applications of micromachined ultrasound transducers. These sensors use the flextensional vibration of an array of micromembranes. Depending on their actuation principle they are usually called pMUT (piezolelectric MUT) or cMUT (capacitive MUT). ADAS applications of these micromachined ultrasound transducers are increasing with time, which in turn is propelling the demand. This in turn is driving growth of the segment.

Based on End User Vertical, the market is segmented into Automotive, Consumer, Industrial, Medical, and Other End user Verticals. Out of which, Automotive is expected to dominate the global market over the forecast period and this is attributed to the various applications of ultrasonic sensors in automotive sector such as for collision avoidance, parking assistance, safety alarms, automatic braking system, and object detection among others. Several automotive vendors are focused on providing the ultrasonic sensors in their vehicle primarily to boost functionality in the vehicle. Thus, the segment is likely to show high growth in the market.

Consumer segment is also expected to witness significant growth in the near future and this is owing to the increasing demand for ultrasonic sensors in various consumer electronics such as cleaning robots, gaming consoles, and smartphones. Several smartphone manufacturers offer the ultrasonic sensors in the devise for facilitating in-display fingerprint technology. This further is driving the demand for ultrasonic sensors in the consumer segment, which is further supporting the market growth.

Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market: Key Developments

In January 2021, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a semiconductor company, had launched Qualcomm 2^nd generation 3 Sonic Sensor, which larger than Gen 1 by 77% due to which it can provide larger area for users to place their finger for capturing 1.7x more biometric data.

In December 2020, Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., manufacturer of electronic components, had opened its Minato MIRAI Innovation Center and became the latest research and development hub of Kanto, Japan.

In August 2020, Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., manufacturer of electronic components, had developed its novel production facility. With this building, the company will be building a system that enables the company to respond to long-and medium-term increase in ceramic parts demand, as the sophistication of electronic devices as well as use of electronics in automobiles is increasing.

In January 2020, Honeywell International, a multinational conglomerate corporation, had entered into collaboration with Verizon, a telecommunications company. The collaboration was done for simplification and accelerating the deployment of novel communication-enabled, intelligent sensors and controls for the smart electric grid.

Global Ultrasonic Sensors Market: Key Companies Insights

The global ultrasonic sensors market is highly competitive. This is attributed to continuous launch of new technologies due to ongoing R&D and efforts by value chain participants. Moreover, key players are adopting various business growth strategies in order to expand their presence on regional as well as global basis.

Some of the key players in the global ultrasonic sensors market are Keyence Corporation, Pepperl+Fuchs, Honeywell International Inc., Baumer Ltd., Rockwell Automation, Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Omron Corporation, Sick AG, Banner Engineering, Baluff Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH, Qualcomm Incorporated, TDK Corporation, Sensata Technologies, and Denso Corporation.

*Definition: Ultrasonic sensors are a kind of non-contact distance sensor that can detect and measure the proximity between an object and the corresponding transmitter. This type of sensor is often referred to as an ultrasonic rangefinder and can be used in many applications that require long-range detection of objects.