our new world market report found that Intruder Alarm / Perimeter Protection (IAPP) products reached $6.43Bn in 2017 and will grow at a CAGR of approximately 3% to $7.5Bn in 2022. This is a mature market that has struggled for significant grow in the last decade and within the physical security business has lived under the shadow of Video Surveillance and Access Control products.

Perimeter Protection has become a major part of the business, with Video Surveillance manufacturers targeting it as another vertical, so they build a business around specialist cameras connected to radar detector technology; Providing an integrated solution. This is causing an overlap and the danger of double counting when it comes to sizing the business. However for the installers and system integrators it’s a growth area for them to target, particularly in transport, defense and utility applications.

IAPP is more dependent upon the fortunes of the construction and manufacturing industries than the other two sectors of the physical security business. The construction industry is cyclical and the manufacturing industry has taken a beating over much of the last ten years in developed countries, slowing down investments in replacing old equipment. However within the last four years there has been resurgence in growth through new LED lighting systems in out door spaces pulling through more IAPP retrofit business by using their wireless networks and advances in IAPP technology that has improved performance.

Whilst the pure Intruder Alarm sector of the business has lost much of its attraction to the developments and usage of Video Surveillance and Access Control a much more confident and stronger IAPP industry is now in place. The traditional demand for intruder protection has been driven by three factors, with the first two being local legislation and the insurance provider requirements. Building and premises owners install them as they have calculated that intrusion systems decrease the number of burglaries, which would cost the insurance company money and so offer incentives such as discounts on their premiums.

The third has been the level of activity in the world construction market. The world market in 2016 was some 30% below its peak of 2006 and even by 2014 it had not made much of a recovery. Growth in construction activity in China and Asia held up well and is now the largest and fastest growing region, whist the US and EU although they trail behind have grown significantly in the last two years.

New Players & New Drivers

More companies are now taking an active part in the IAPP business with many of these being prominent players from the Video Surveillance business. Axis Communications, a leader in network video, recently announced their Axis Perimeter Defender product, a video analytics application for intrusion detection that is best suited for the enterprise market.

With this launch, Axis is enabling its partners to deliver a scalable and flexible perimeter defense solution through combining Axis network cameras, Axis network horn speakers and third party video management software. The application forms a comprehensive, video-based solution for effective perimeter surveillance and protection.

Similarly Canada-based Senstar a subsidiary of the Israeli company Magal S3 recently announced the acquisition of Aimetis for US$14 million. This acquisition will allow Senstar to become an end-to-end solution provider of outdoor sensors and integrated video assessment for the perimeter protection business.

Avigilon recently introduced their Avigilon Presence Detector, which is a sensor that combines self-learning analytics with impulse radar technology to accurately detect the presence of a person even if they have stopped moving or are hidden. This sensor is designed for indoor locations such as ATM rooms and other closed indoor vestibules within banks, pharmacies, health care facilities and retail stores, and can accurately detect a person’s presence through blankets, cardboard, wood and drywall.

Radar technology has increased its penetration of perimeter security. Two companies that specialize in this business are Blighter Surveillance Systems and Navtech Radar respectively based in Cambridge and Oxford UK. Blighter Surveillance Systems offers an electronic-scanning radar and sensor solution. It has supplied a number of its Blighter B400 long-range ground surveillance radars to Siemens for installation at a national infrastructure site in Europe. These radars combine patented solid-state Passive Electronic Scanning Array (PESA) technology with advanced Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing.

Microwave perimeter intrusion detection systems work by analyzing changes in the received signal between a transmitter and a receiver. Early systems suffered from an inability to discriminate between a human target and false alarm events caused by animals, weather and the ­movement of trees and foliage, but modern systems have dramatically reduced false alarm rates.

Sensor manufacturer Optex Europe has an outdoor intrusion detector, which provides 12m x 90-degree detection coverage. The dual-technology has an integrated algorithm of both PIR and Microwave that provide Digital Triple layer detection, this means the upper and lower PIR detection areas and MW detection area must be simultaneously crossed to generate an alarm.

Perimeter security has become a much more important issue in critical infrastructures such as utilities, transportation, government and defense establishments because of the increasing number of threats, which could disrupt the operations of these infrastructures and also lead to huge losses across the whole economy. Terrorism is still an important driver across all three sections of the physical security market and not least IAPP.

The main driver for growth in the next five years will be the increase in investment in industrial complexes particularly in Asia and the BRIC countries. Advances in sensor technologies, wireless technology and radar and the integration with Video Surveillance, Access and outdoor Lighting will also pull through further growth. However we expect that the technology driver that will have most impact on IAPP will be the introduction of Video Analytics and Deep Learning software which has attracted a number of developers to target even at this early stage.

For more information on the IAPP market, view our new report The Physical Security Business 2017 to 2022.

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