5G Internet driving NDT Growth

With increasing talk of 5G internet connectivity and an airborne network of drones to facilitate it (check out this Guardian article on Google’s secret Skybender project) – data analysis firm Frost & Sullivan are predicting an accompanying growth in the NDT market, specifically the communication testing segment.

As 5G communication networks move toward a wide market deployment by 2020, the testing and measurement of related devices (communication hardware, network hardware, drones, optic fibres) will expand in concert, creating a surge in the NDT market, expected to reach approximately USD $25billion by 2025.

Google aren’t the only tech company developing the 5G drone network concept.  Long-time rival Facebook are apparently hot on their heels, already having registered new drone designs with the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Expected to fly at over 90,000 feet and remain airborne for weeks or months at a time, the drones will be opening up a world of possibility for the delivery of high-speed internet to mobile devices. Check out their video introducing the Avila project below:

Understandably, such a network would be subject to the same rigours of NDT that the aviation industry has held to for many years, and which is enforced by multiple agencies globally.  All of this bodes well for a growing NDT industry that is clearly a long way from hitting it’s stride.