Industry sees growing market for personal tracking devices.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.
• Position: COMMUNICATIONS

Troops in combat zones, workers in remote areas, hikers and mountain climbers are an emerging market for providers of two-way tracking devices. The technology so far has mostly been used by the Defense Department, but as price points come down it is becoming a more attractive alternative for non-military buyers.

Two-way satellite alerting and messaging systems have been around for a long time. But personal location device providers now see potential new customers as electronics become more miniaturized and the availability of two-way satellite services increases.

Iridium Communications Inc., a satellite communications company, has developed a matchbook-sized transceiver and a half-dollar-sized antenna that can be incorporated into a variety of handheld and man-portable devices. The components enable the tracking systems to communicate with a satellite network. Military special operations forces now use some of those advanced technologies to keep tabs on their units. Industry experts expect to see demand for those personnel trackers increasing throughout the armed forces and expanding to other agencies in the coming years.

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"There will be more wide-scale and ubiquitous rollouts of tracking systems through the military and government," says Patrick Shay, vice president of Iridium Data Services. "Maybe at some point in the future, a service member puts on his helmet and he gets his tracking device."

For now, though, the trackers are limited in size to items such as radios and PDAs.

The overall personal tracking market could have as many as 1 million terminals in use by 2014, said a study released earlier this year by Telecom, Media and Finance Associates Inc. Two-way devices may account for 25 percent of the $150 million retail service revenues expected in that year.

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Traditional non-military tracking systems function more like beacons, which emit a signal at regular intervals with location information and diagnostic data readings. Such one-way communication sensors are useful for remote monitoring of pipelines and other infrastructure. But when they are deployed by federal agencies and companies to track employees working in distant locations, the limited communications can cause problems. For example, the tracker can transmit emergency signals accidentally and trigger a search-and-rescue operation unnecessarily because command centers cannot confirm the alert with the person carrying it.

A growing...