A continued emergence and development of Smart Cities worldwide is a key driver of anticipated 25.3% annual growth in IoT sensors, according to a new report from ResearchandMarkets.com. There were $19.1 billion in sensors sold in 2021, with the robust growth projected in this report expected to have begun in 2022. At this rate, the market for IoT sensors will reach $47 billion in 2025.

Sensors covered in the report measure temperature, pressure, humidity, soil moisture, heartbeat, and are used across Smart Cities and smart buildings, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, education, and entertainment.

Smart Cities are described in the report have smart homes that control home thermostats through networked sensors and voice recognition. Sensors can also abate emissions from buildings who deploy them, as governments encourage energy-efficient cities in efforts to reach Net Zero goals by 2030 and 2050, the report says. “For instance,” the report notes, “28 cities in mostly North America and Europe have (already) signed up for the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment by the World Green Building Council. Examples include Portland (OR), Los Angeles, and London.”

Healthcare, Too
Healthcare is another area specifically cited by the report – today sensors monitor patient's vital signs as well as key reading such as glucose levels, the report states. Sensors are also used to track the real-time location of medical equipment such as defibrillators, wheelchairs, oxygen pumps, nebulizers, and other monitoring equipment.

Many Companies, Billions of Sensors
Companies cited in the report include Texas Instruments, Infineon, ST Micro, Siemens, Honeywell, and Analog Devices.

The billions of new sensors expected to be deployed during the upcoming years of steady growth will generate enormous amounts of data, much of it in real-time or near-real-time, which must be networked and processed.

Running the Numbers
Much of it will remain in long-term storage as well. A data center might dedicate 2 to 3 petabytes of storage per megawatt of overall size, according to IDCA Research. A real-time flow of 1,000 sensors delivering a kilobyte per second equals 3.6 terabytes per hour of data generation, or more than 15 petabytes per year running at just 50% overall capacity.

Running any real-world scenario shows that the numbers scale rapidly; big IoT deployments will thus be planned alongside robust edge datacenters wherever they are found.