DC Velocity - February 2020

T E C H N O L O G Y T RAN S PO R TA TIO N F LE E T MANA GE M EN T

connected, analyzing the root cause of “excursions”—or departures from set temperature limits—can take days or weeks, and the cost can run into the thousands of dollars, he says.

To address that challenge, Oracle’s fleet management solution—which is part of the Oracle Transportation Management suite—creates a unified database from information gathered from a range of sources, such as sensor data from a moving vehicle, links to a vehicle’s onboard computer known as its controller area network (CAN), sensors on the trailer, and tracking devices on pallets. The company then processes the data using a cloud-based Internet of Things (Io T) approach and applies “automatic anomaly detection models” to notify a transportation service provider that its shipment is at risk, Suri says.

Oracle has also developed an intelligent track-and-trace platform that uses blockchain technology to create a secure online “ledger” where trading partners can view each other’s information, and is currently developing a specialized version of the product for cold chain users. That track-and-trace platform takes a broad-based view of the transportation process, covering activities beyond just the transportation leg that begins once the product has been loaded onto a truck.

“A lot happens before and after that too, and that’s
where we see a lot of excursions—during storage and
dwell time or in the staging area of the warehouse,” Suri
says. “You need to know how long [a load] has been left
at each stage and whether it was temperature controlled,
because a supply chain involves many different trading
partners and the chain of custody can involve many sets
of hands.”
Combining an IoT approach with blockchain-based
data sharing will allow platforms to collect data directly
from sensors, eliminating the need for data entry by fal-
lible humans. Fueled by that accurate information, users
will be able to trace incidents back to the exact batch and
avoid expensive recalls, he says.

That approach is rapidly become more affordable, thanks to technology such as lightning-fast 5G wireless networks that enable faster IoT systems and “edge analytics” hardware that processes data on the truck where it was gathered, instead of transmitting it to the cloud first.

Powered by those advances, cold chain transportation fleet management is on the verge of a leap forward in capabilities, experts agree. In the coming years, trucks delivering refrigerated cargo will be able to automatically communicate vital details to dispatchers and customers alike, allowing trading partners to prevent spoilage, preserve valuable goods, and avoid expensive recalls. ;