From smart appliances to medical imaging equipment to industry-scale innovations… sensors are playing a big role in advancing technology and connecting more and more information to the Internet of Things.

Some sensors can even monitor wound healing and stimulate the healing process.

The potential scale and reach of this market is enormous. In 2017, the global sensor market was valued at $139 billion, according to a report by Allied Market Research. By 2025, it is projected to reach $287 billion. And the global market for smart appliances alone is projected to reach $65.3 billion by 2027. That’s up from about $25.9 billion in 2020.

Here’s what investors should know about sensors. 

What Are Sensors?

Sensors are devices that “detect events or changes in the environment and then provide the corresponding output. They sense physical input such as light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure, or any other entity, and respond by producing an output on a display or transmit the information in electronic form for further processing.” 

Types of sensors include but are not limited to motion sensors, light sensors, thermal sensors, wind sensors, and smoke sensors. 

Sensors are used in a variety of environments and applications, including flood and water level monitoring systems, environmental monitoring, traffic monitoring and controlling, energy saving in artificial lighting, remote system monitoring, equipment fault diagnostics, and precision agriculture and animal tracking, according to the report by Allied Market Research. 

Why Invest in Sensors? 

Sensors might be an industry to themselves, but they aren’t limited to one industry by any means. They play a critical role in the advancement of the Internet of Things and industrial production, to name a few. They also make our cars and our phones smarter, monitor environmental changes, advance robotics, and more. For investors, that means worlds of possibilities. 

Consider that there are approximately three million supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems globally. These industrial control systems offer real-time business IT in industries including water and wastewater, oil and gas, power/electric utilities, transit systems, telecom, and aquaculture. SCADA systems are considered the “brains of the plant,” but they wouldn’t be possible without sensors. Sensors give these systems vital information, functioning as their eyes and ears. As their sensors become “smarter,” they are improving operations and results at three million plants.  

The applications for sensors go far beyond industrial efficiency. 

The overall gas sensors market reached $1.1 billion in 2021, and is expected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2026, according to a market research report published by MarketsandMarkets. Gas sensors are in high demand globally in critical industries—for cloud computing, IOT deployment, and consumer electronics. They are also crucial for air quality monitoring for smart cities. According to one report, spending on smart city technology is expected to reach $327 billion by 2025. 

The global military sensors market size was $25.94 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $34.58 billion by 2027, according to a new report by Fortune Business Insights. This is in part driven by the growth of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology. 

The wireless sensors network market was valued at $46.76 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $123.93 billion by 2026, according to a Market Insights report. Wireless sensors are making it possible to remotely monitor patients with wearable biosensors, among many other things. In healthcare, they are also enabling smart thermometers, connected inhalers, and automated insulin delivery (AID) systems. 

Smartphones are so smart in part because of their sensors. This everyday device includes proximity sensors, accelerometer/motion sensors, moisture sensors, gyroscopes, touch ID and face ID. One group of researchers are even working on a smartphone biosensor that detects COVID-19. 

Smart cars will have many more sensors beyond those of a smartphone. Sensors on smart cars will be their eyes and ears, sending the information to the brains of the car to achieve better decision making. 

Sensors make our world as it exists today possible. They provide solutions for everything from advanced robotics and automation to healthcare IOT to smart cities. In the post-pandemic word, data driven solutions are expected to be increasingly in-demand.  This means that sensors will be the eyes of many, many technologies to come. 

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