Abstract
Commercial Industries Hold Yet-to-be-Realized Potential for Remote Sensing
Applications
The North American remote sensing market is gradually extending its reach
beyond the Department of Defense (DoD) and other state and federal governments
toward underserved commercial markets. Remote sensing vendors can draw upon
their expertise to lay the groundwork for evolving commercial markets such as
mining, petroleum exploration, and utilities. Vendors must also make active
efforts to bring end-user perceptions in line with market realities. For
instance, though imagery utility is to a certain extent dependent upon
resolution, this is likely to have limited effect on commercial markets, as
customers will likely have a stringent set of needs. Moreover, vendors must
generate awareness of the benefits of remote sensing applications and
extensively promote value-added services (VAS) to exploit market-specific
opportunities.
This Frost & Sullivan research analyzes the North American remote sensing
vertical market and the trends in various remote-sensing techniques such as
panchromatic, hyperspectral, synthetic aperture radar, multispectral , and light
detection and ranging (LIDAR) imagery. It also discusses the value-added
services (VAS) packaged with various remote-sensing imagery techniques. Key
industry drivers and challenges are backed by strategic recommendations to
enable participants to formulate their business growth plans.
Increasing Value for the End User Critical to Success in Commercial
Applications
In order to gain a stronghold in the commercial market, remote sensing
vendors must have the capabilities to serve diverse end-user needs. However,
smaller vendors must build up their customer base gradually by focusing their
efforts on niche markets. "Targeting and increasing competence in a few
commercial applications is likely to help vendors improve product quality and
provide specialized and expert support services that are critical for
penetrating the commercial market," explains the analyst.
Vendors are also enhancing their value proposition to end users by combining
two or more remote-sensing imageries that produce 3-D models and animated movie
clips designed specifically to cater to the commercial industries. Vendors are
also striving for digitization of imagery that helps them in archiving and
cutting costs to grab the attention of commercial industries.
High Capitalization Costs for Next-Generation Remote Sensing Systems
Hinder Growth
Though the remote sensing market shows immense potential, it faces a
challenging future due to the high capitalization costs incurred in the
acquisition of cutting-edge technology required for next-generation remote
sensing systems. "Many remote sensing vendors feel that it is impractical
to recapitalize on the next-generation remote sensing systems while still
operating with existing ones," says the analyst.
The high capitalization costs are also creating barriers to entry into the
satellite imaging market. Additionally, the high-level technological expertise
and government approvals required in launching such a satellite for purely
commercial reasons also serve as major bottlenecks in the development process. | 
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