From visual examination to X-rays – a whole series of control checks is necessary before a package is finally stowed into the cargo hold of the aircraft. All this is time consuming, labor intensive, and correspondingly expensive. Together with a group of five partners, over the past three years, BIBA – the Bremen Institute for Production and Logistics at the University of Bremen – has been working on “Advanced Security in the Airfreight Chain”. The idea: Digital logistics will make processes more efficient and at the same time enable the seamless monitoring and documentation of packaged items travelling down the airfreight chain. The idea was recently introduced at Bremen airport in the form of the Freight Fingerprint Information System.
The aim of the project titled “Enhanced Security for Logistics” (ESecLog) funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) was to develop a tamper-free freight fingerprint information system to screen airfreight shipments. The project involved the participation of BIBA, the Fraunhofer Institut für Fabrikbetrieb und -automatisierung IFF [Fraunhofer Institute of industrial manufacturing and management], the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Airbus DS Airborne Solutions, Panalpina and Viaboxx, assisted by the associated partners Lufthansa Cargo, NXP Semiconductors Germany, the Federal Aviation Office, and Bremen Airport.
The project partners had to face a number of challenges during the research and development stage: Not only the packages but also the technical components already in use are subject to the most stringent security provisions. The researchers therefore had to apply technical components that were as straightforward as possible and solve an extremely complex task under unusually difficult conditions. It was even necessary to develop some completely new technical equipment.
Continuous monitoring from the actual packaging up to being stowed in the aircraft hold…
…just about sums the system up: The key data concerning each and every package has to be fed into the information system by a certified and known consignor. Then a dedicated identification number is generated for the package. This is stored on a special RFID transponder which enables the package to be identified at all times. The transponder also incorporates a seal function: Any break of the seal is automatically recorded. In the event the seal is broken or removed, for instance by the carton being opened, the system immediately registers the event. The transponder is stored in an inconspicuous label stuck over one of the foreseen opening edges of the package. RFID-based identification of the package allows all relevant freight and forwarding data to be accessed in the information system.
An X-ray and light sensor in the package provides additional indication of the package having been opened. This sensor is likewise readable via RFID. Further information is provided by the 3D contour data of the package and stored in the information system. Packaged in this way, the item is delivered to the airport by a certified supplier in a sealed vehicle, where it lands up in the airport’s security area. On arriving in the area for incoming goods in the airport warehouse, the seal and X-ray/light sensors on each package automatically control each package via the RFID reader. In addition to this, all actual data referring to the freight item is read and compared with the data recorded when the airfreight transport was registered. Nothing passes through the system that shouldn’t be there.
On palettes and containers into the aircraft hold
Now the freight is loaded onto ULDs (unit load devices), the special palettes and containers used in airfreight. These also have an RFID label and are automatically identified by the transport vehicles called “dollies”. And here, too, technical components ensure that only the duly recorded and intact freight items are stowed. In the event this is not the case, the system announces an error and a manual control check becomes necessary. The transporter conveying the loaded ULDs is likewise equipped with technical components, so the transport to the aircraft can also be tracked.
The transport to the aircraft is monitored electronically. The people involved in airfreight transport call this “apron tracking”. This process automatically checks whether there is any deviation from the correct route to the waiting aircraft. Assuming the system has not registered anything untoward, a so-called high loader lifts the freight up to the loading hatch in the side of the aircraft. The high loader registers receipt of the freight and the system automatically compares all the actual data with the target data. Not until an OK is received are the packages stowed into the aircraft’s cargo hold, which is mostly on passenger aircraft as they account for about 70 percent of all airfreight carried.
Less control effort and a constant and precise overview of the security status
“The system documents all features of the freight and pieces them together to form a digital overview. So every item of freight is given a digital fingerprint. This permits seamless and accurate monitoring of the item’s security status at all times throughout the entire transport chain”, explains the project leader Olaf Poenicke from Fraunhofer IFF.
From the packaging of the airfreight consignment up to and including stowage inside the aircraft: Nothing can escape notice. “Carrying out targeted checks of different freight data at different times throughout the airfreight transport chain allows early detection of any interference or manipulation”, says BIBA researcher Patrick Dittmer. “This virtually dispenses with the need for time-consuming and expensive re-examination by means of X-ray scans and manual control checks. Logistic and handling processes are made leaner – and at the same time, more security is brought into the airfreight chain”.
Dittmer goes on to point out: “Being at an innovative center of aerospace research like Bremen was a great help to us during the research project. Bremen Airport offered valuable support, especially by making a testing area available to us under real conditions. We couldn’t have found that anywhere else”.
Your contact partners:
Prof.Dr.-Ing. Michael Freitag
Leader of BIBA
Phone: +49 421 218-500 02
email: freprotect me ?!biba.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
Dipl.-Wi.-Ing. Patrick Dittmer
ESecLog Project leader
BIBA
Phone: +49 421 218-50 090
email: ditprotect me ?!biba.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
Dipl.-Wi.-Ing. Olaf Poenicke
ESecLog Overall project leader
Fraunhofer IFF
Phone: +49 391 40 90-337
email: Olaf.Poenickeprotect me ?!iff.fraunhoferprotect me ?!.de
