Indoor Positioning Systems Help Improve the Occupant Experience

A recent Guidehouse Insights blog discussed key smart building trends for 2019, with a focus on the occupant experience. Within the commercial lighting market, one-way lighting manufactures, building incumbents, technology firms, and startups are able to provide an improved occupant experience through Internet of Things (IoT) solution offerings. Lighting-based indoor positioning systems (IPS) provide the infrastructure for these offerings, which are aimed to improve the occupant experience while helping address pain points of the building owner, manager, or tenant. In a recent report, Lighting-Based Indoor Positioning Systems, Guidehouse Insights expects global revenue of lighting-based IPS to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 26.7%, from $387.7 million in 2018 to $3.3 billion in 2027.

Lighting-Based IPS Revenue by Region, World Markets: 2018-2027

(Source: Guidehouse Insights)

Building owners, managers, and tenets face numerous pain points that lighting-based IPS can help address, ranging from excess office space, the challenge of omni-channel retail, employee retention, and improving the overall occupant experience. To address these points, companies are offering solutions such as space utilization, indoor navigation and wayfinding, and personalization of workspaces and conferences through lighting controls. The growing number of potential solutions has peaked interest not only from the lighting industry but also from other building manufacturers, technology firms, and startups. 

An Award-Winning Solution

Stressing the importance of the growing number of IoT lighting solutions and increasing competitive landscape, lighting incumbent Acuity Brands was recently recognized for its Atrius IoT Solutions. Acuity’s Atrius IoT Solutions won the 2019 IoT Breakthrough Award for Connected Retail Innovation in the global 2019 IoT Breakthrough Awards program. The award program, which received over 3,500 global nominations, focuses on IoT innovations in areas including Connected Home and Home Automation, Industrial and Enterprise IoT, Smart City technology, and Connected Cars. 

Challenges faced by brick-and-mortar retailers, discussed in the previously referenced Guidehouse Insights report, was mentioned in conjunction with Acuity’s solution offering by James Johnson, managing director at IoT Breakthrough. The need for an omni-channel approach in retail is helping drive retailers to find innovative solutions. Offerings such as Acuity’s Atrius IoT Solutions and other lighting-based IPSs can provide an advantage required to remain competitive in a shifting retail landscape. These solutions are helping retailers address the pain point of ecommerce competition and provide an improved occupant experience to retail shoppers. The number of deployments of such solutions are still limited, but the potential to provide benefits to the store and shopper will help grow the lighting-based IPS market. 

Not Just for Retail

The lighting-based IPS market is not limited to the retail environment, and verticals such as commercial offices, healthcare, and education can greatly benefit from these solutions. In October of 2018, Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, was recognized for its contributions to Dubai’s Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, where the company equipped the university with connected lighting technology, including indoor positioning solutions. Other companies, such as Zumtobel, have provided deployments of lighting-based IPS, showing interest for these solutions in various global regions. The shift in retail is helping drive attention to these solutions and highlight the capabilities of lighting-based IPS solutions. With growing interest in the retail segment, and additional success stories in other verticals, lighting-based IPS are gaining traction.