Connector Design Improvement Driven by UAV Market Explosion

In the next decade, the comprehensive sales of UAVs are expected to reach 90 billion US dollars, and the annual sales will rise from 8 billion US dollars in 2015 to 12 billion US dollars to 14 billion US dollars in 2025.

The military industry market will continue to lead the market, and the market share is expected to be about 70%. The remaining market share is estimated to be about 25% of the consumer market and 5% of the civil market. In the next few years, the consumer and civil sectors should achieve a compound annual growth rate of 20%, while the military sector is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of about 5%.

Military Field
A series of complex systems and sensors are used in intelligence collection, surveillance, reconnaissance and weapon equipment applications in the military market, which is good news for the connector manufacturing industry. Interconnecting these different systems clearly increases the need for electrification and will continue to grow as they evolve to deliver new and improved performance.

A more professional system means more connectivity. The product mix will depend on the platform and purpose of use, but there will be a huge improvement in high data transmission rate, RF, optical fiber, and miniaturized, robust connector products as well as shell. Most designs will focus on circular connectors, but rectangular connectors will be used more and more in some applications.

Civil and Consumption
The civil and consumer sectors include markets such as agriculture, construction, government and law enforcement. Compared with the military field, it is quite simple and relatively cheap to use these UAV control systems in camera and the whole device, but this is reflected in their sales price, complexity and different prices for different purposes. In addition, in the field of civil and consumption, the number of UAV connectors is less than that in the field of military, but because there is a huge market in the field of civil and consumption, the market size of connectors is also very considerable.

Nowadays, many civil and consumer platforms are using off the shelf commercial connectors (COTS). In many cases, these connectors have been sold in existing markets, including: industry, automobiles and computers, as well as some low-cost military to civilian areas. Keep in mind that the key to this market is the cost, cost, cost, especially the low-cost micro and nano connectors will have a huge growth.