Telematic platform for integral management of agricultural/perishable goods in terrestrial logistics

Abstract

At the same time as the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been applied to vehicle tracking and fleet management, other Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have also been proposed to improve supply chain efficiency. Among them, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and more recently wireless sensors, both currently dominate the research literature. However, many of these proposals lack realistic architecture, system integration in the supply chain, flexibility and cost-efficiency. In addition, several important research gaps need to be filled, such as driver identification, automatic management of journey schedule and security issues involved in wireless communications while collecting data. This paper copes with these issues by: proposing a telematic platform of an integral nature, enhancing tracking and tracing capabilities for vehicles and goods, giving a secure solution to the problem of installing wireless processing units in truck trailers and cabs, identifying drivers and journey itineraries, and assuring freight environmental parameters during the journey. Hardware and software prototypes have been successfully developed and tested in real vehicle case studies, including the transportation of agricultural products in the southeast of Spain.