Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52

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Advanced Engineering Informatics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aei

Design and implementation of RFID based air-cargo monitoring system

Yoon Seok Chang a,*, Min Gyu Son a,1, Chang Heun Oh b,2
a
Ubiquitous Technology Application Research Center, School of Air Transport, Transportation and Logistics, Korea Aerospace University, 100 Hanggongdae-gil,
Goyang-City 412-791, Republic of Korea
b
EXIS Software Engineering, #1801, Building 2, DMC Iaan Sang-am, 1653 Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper deals with the design and implementation of radio-frequency identification (RFID) based cargo
Received 15 November 2009 monitoring system which supports tracking and tracing in air-cargo operation. In order to apply a proper
Received in revised form 1 April 2010 RFID technology, firstly we studied RF operational environment and tested different RFID frequencies.
Accepted 7 May 2010
After finding a right technology (i.e. frequency), we designed and implemented tracking and tracing sys-
Available online 25 June 2010
tem applying EPC networks. We believe that our research will bring a guideline for developing RFID based
tracking system for cargo operation.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Boston, New York, Gimpo-Seoul, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome and etc.
In the US tests, it was turned out that RFID tags were far more
To survive in today’s highly competitive business world, the accurate than bar code system when applied to baggage handling
speed of operation/delivery and high level of customer service, vis- operation. Even though higher cost has prevented airports/airlines
ibility across enterprises boundaries as well as across countries are companies from adopting RFID systems, US government’s require-
considered as key factors. Due to such reason, the importance of air ment (after September 11) of screening all bags for explosives has
transport is becoming more and more emphasized. However, due somehow changed the situation [1].
to higher cost than other transportation methods, various technol- There are studies about track and trace practices in the aero-
ogies have been investigated to maximize its process efficiency. space industry which identified opportunities for improvement
Among them, RFID system is getting more attention because of through the use of automatic identification (auto-id) technologies
its distinctive capabilities compared to the traditional barcode [2–4]. According to those studies, the lack of effective and efficient
system: identification methods is one of the main reasons for poor perfor-
mance. Boeing and Airbus started to working together to promote
 Uniqueness: enable unique product identification, distinguish the adoption of industry standard solutions for RFID on commer-
every single product by its ID. cial airplane parts [5]. The two manufacturers believe that RFID
 Timeless: reduce/eliminate time for every step of checking ID could provide major benefits for the entire industry. They believe
like scanning, typing etc. that they will get more accurate information about their demand
 Accuracy: eliminate error of ID checking, possible to establish for parts. They expect the reduction of parts inventory and of
correct information database, especially for inventory handling repairing time for planes. Suppliers also expect the reduction of
like location and volume of the inventory. inventory, improved efficiency in their manufacturing operations
 Completeness: ensure availability of relevant product infor- and want to use RFID to verify the parts delivered to Boeing and
mation. Airbus are genuine. Airbus began RFID-tagging for its ground
equipment and tools four years ago and Airbus 380 will be
Major airports have been considering the adoption of RFID tech- equipped with 10,000 radio-frequency identification chips. The air-
nology for baggage handling process since 1999. Tests have been craft will have passive RFID chips on removable parts such as pas-
done at numerous airports/airlines in the world including Las Ve- senger seats, life vests, and brakes which will aid in maintenance of
gas, Jacksonville, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Heathrow, those parts [6].
Standards are being developed for the wide adoption of RFID in
aviation industry. The Air Transport Association (ATA) recently
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 300 0150; fax: +82 2 300 0151. added an RFID standard to its SPEC2000, a comprehensive set of
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Y.S. Chang), [email protected] (M.G.
e-business specifications, products and services for the aviation
Son), [email protected] (C.H. Oh).
1
Tel.: +82 2 300 0150; fax: +82 2 300 0151. parts industry [7]. Ngai et al. [8] reviewed 85 RFID papers and
2
Tel.:+82 2 6393 0815; fax: +82 2 6393 0814. classified those papers into four areas: technological issues,

1474-0346/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.aei.2010.05.004
42 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52

applications areas, policy and security issues, and other issues. Even though there are a few RFID applications in air-cargo busi-
According to their paper, there were relatively many RFID papers ness, as Skorna and Richter [11] pointed out, aside from some local
on retails and libraries areas in application related articles. Chao solutions and smaller pilot projects for testing purposes, no major
et al. [9] also reviewed RFID researches to analyze RFID innovation, applications yet exist in this arena.
adoption by organizations, and market diffusion. According to their There has been a government driven RFID research project
analysis, supply chain management (SCM), health industry, and called ‘‘Ubiquitous Technology based Air-cargo Management” in
privacy issues emerge as the major trends in RFID. Contactless, Korea [19]. The aim of this project is to utilize automatic identifi-
read/writable data, no line of sight, variety of read ranges, wide cation technologies (such as RFID, Sensor Network, barcode etc.)
data-capacity range, multiple tags read and accuracy are some of to elevate the efficiency and enhance air-cargo processing capabil-
the benefits using RFID other than bar code. But still there are is- ities. The project is from 2007 to 2012 with total budget of about
sues to solve in the area of performance, environmental factors’ three million dollars.
impact, tags read limitation, hardware interference, standardiza- Fig. 1 shows various systems and research contents to be devel-
tion and cost etc. [10]. oped in this project. The initial goal is to improve the cargo han-
Each year, larger cargo airlines such as Lufthansa and Air France dling process and adapt ubiquitous technology that enables
lose 5–6% of their Unit Load Device (ULD) inventory – amounting visibility within the air-cargo terminal, and ultimately support
to hundreds of millions of dollars in loss – due to breakdowns in the quick and accurate work process. In the figure, the dotted lines
their ULD tracking-facilities [11]. There are some articles which ad- present the areas which are in development. Currently we focus on
dress the issues of poor ULD tracking and explain the value of RFID the ULD level cargo tracking as well as asset management since
for air-cargo tracking [12–14]. Disadvantages of current practices ULD is very expensive and important assets of air-cargo. In order
are: need of human intervention to read and record ULD informa- to provide a globally scalable sharing data network, we adopted
tion; data errors caused by human errors; reconciliation of an ULD EPC network architectures [20] with automated business process
that goes out of a system at one airport; and lack of centralized management and also ISO standard air protocols [21,22].
data. Chang et al. [14] explained potential benefits of RFID for In this paper, we split our discussion into four sections. In Section
ULD management (Table 1). 2, we firstly describe characteristics of air-cargo operations and ULD
Due to the potential benefits of RFID and growing demand, in brief. Operational environment for RFID is discussed in Section 3.
there have been a few RFID trials in air-cargo management. Thai- In Section 4, design and implementation of RFID based cargo tracking
land’s main airport had implemented passive UHF RFID (i.e. ISO and tracing system is presented followed by conclusion.
18000-6B protocol) in the Cargo Free Zone (CFZ). In their pilot, rigid
reusable plastic RFID tags are manually affixed to shipment con- 2. Air-cargo operations and Unit Load Device (ULD)
tainers and pallets of goods that require storage and must be in-
spected [15]. Tags are affixed to trucks in order to monitor ‘enter 2.1. Air-cargo operations
and exit’. The pilot was focused on the tracking of goods in CFZ area
and did not consider the tracking of ULD itself which is one of the Generally air-cargo operations consist of import area and export
important assets in cargo operation. area [23]. The import area is dedicated to inbound freights while
Air Canada had done a pilot RFID test with the following steps: the export area is dedicated to outbound freights. The flow of
tagging, loading, shipping, receiving, and unloading. They tested goods through the terminal is either from the airside to the land-
the loading process from varying antenna angles for read range side, from the landside to the airside, or from the airside to the air-
and read rate. The reading of RFID tags in both the shipping and side via the terminal (for transfer). In this paper, we only focus on
receiving processes provided 100% read rates. Again, in this pilot, the export process. Air-cargo process consists of the following
the ULDs were not RFID tagged for proof-of-concept [16]. steps (Fig. 2):
Hsu et al. [17] explored the customs clearance process of im-
port cargos in international air-cargo terminals, and reconstructed  Booking: a forwarder or a shipper makes a reservation for space
the network of the customs clearance process based on the appli- and weight of the aircraft. Booking is done by phone or internet.
cation of radio-frequency identification (RFID). In their research,  Cargo Unloading (or Receiving): the forwarder sends their cargo
the performances of RFID are evaluated in terms of reductions to the air-cargo terminal before the departure date of aircraft.
in shippers’ inventory cost and operators’ labor cost. There had  Weight check: the cargo staffs weigh a cargo. Measured weight is
been other academic level research on RFID application in avia- compared with the weight previously written on master airway
tion industry [18]. bill (MAWB).

Table 1
Expected advantages of RFID for ULD management.

Area Problems Expected advantages of using RFID

ULD process  Need to check process manually several times.  Information checking from RFID system
 Hard to detect mis-loading. automatically.
 Manual input of data by labor at every process.  Automatic input of correct information.
 Paperless work process.
Movement  Movement management according to an paper document ‘work order’.  Paperless work process.
management  Input data after movement and impossible to track and trace of ULD in real-  Real-time track and trace.
time.  Real-time management of ULD number.
 Incorrect ULD number checking by labor.  Improve security problems.
 Problems of security and safety.  Decrease human error.
 Prone to human error.
Asset management  Impossible to manage inventory in real-time.  Real-time inventory control.
 Inventory condition check by labor, 2–3 times a month.  Real-time ULD condition control.
 Record history of washing/repairing of ULD on paper document.  Computerized ULD history management.
 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52 43

Fig. 1. Contents of ubiquitous technology based air-cargo management.

Fig. 2. General export processes.

 Dimension check: the cargo staffs check dimension if necessary.  Loading ULD at aircraft: ULD is loaded to aircraft. The cargo staffs
They report a problem if there is any difference between mea- check ULD locking and packing condition.
sured data and previously written on MAWB.  Departure: aircraft takes off by its schedule.
 Security check: X-ray or other methods are taken to check
security. In order to identify detail activities of each organization in-
 Documentation: the forwarder submits documents concerned volved in cargo handling and data collection point, we performed
with export cargo. detail processes study. Detail processes study can be referenced
 Storage: cargo is stored on storage area (the areas are divided by from [19]. Fig. 3 shows example of storage process.
destinations).
 ULD build-up: each cargo is built up by plan. As a result, each 2.2. Unit Load Device (ULD) and air-cargo
cargo is placed on the ULD.
 Store ULD at ETV: If necessary, ULD is stored in Elevator Transfer Unit Load Devices (ULDs) play a vital part in ensuring that as
Vehicle (ETV) rack. air-cargo volumes increase; they are moved safely, quickly and
 Move ULD to airside: ULD is moved to airside for loading at cost-effectively [24]. ULD is the correct terminology used by the
aircraft. air transport industry for containers and loading units that are
44 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52

Fig. 3. Example of process study: storage process.

used for the carriage of cargo by air. It allows large quantities of At the export area, shipments are received either loose (i.e.
cargo to be bundled into large units. Pallets and nettings as well item level cargo, box) or as ULD shipments. ULD shipments
as rigid containers are commonly used for freight transport by are transferred from the feeding area to the airside area either
air. Each ULD is required to have a marking that identify its type directly or through the export storage area. ULD handling system
code, maximum gross weight and actual tare weight. Each ULD is such as ETV is generally used for storage operations. Shipments
manifested separately so that its contents can be tracked. Cur- tendered loose are sent to the cart or to the ULD build-up area
rently, technical specifications for unit load devices are set by the either directly or after being stored from any other storage
International Air Transport Association (IATA). These relate to the areas.
dimensions, material and other characteristics of the ULD as well Generally it takes 4–24 h (emergency cargo: 1.5 h) from enter-
as issues relating to their manufacture, registration, handling and ing of ULDs into the terminal to loading them to a flight. All the
maintenance [25]. Because there are many different types of air- baggage in the truck dock should be loaded 4 h before the depar-
craft that carry cargo, as well as different possible configurations ture time; in case of animal and perishable, cargo should be en-
within the same aircraft type, most ULDs are specific to a particular tered terminal before 2.5 h; and dangerous cargo should be
use. Fig. 4 shows examples of commonly used ULD. stored 24 h in terminal.

Fig. 4. Example ULD types: LD3 container (left) and PMC pallet (right).
 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52 45

3. Air-cargo terminal environment for RFID  Point D (import zone): transit zone is the place that transit cargo
is managed. Cargo is classified to its destination.
3.1. Radio environment test in air-cargo terminal  Point E(airside zone): airside zone is the place that ULD is loaded
to aircraft.
Air-cargo terminal may be one of the toughest environments for
applying an RFID system because of various electromagnetic noise Table 3 is the result with LP antenna at truck dock point.
sources and its operational environment (e.g. metal container, me- According to our test, 800 MHz noise was measured which was
tal pallet etc.). There were two objectives of the test. Firstly, to find generated by cellular phone. Discontinuous noises at 242.36,
out the intensity of radio waves which are closest to the frequency 394.24 and 446.20 MHz were also found. At each direction, a spec-
being used by RFID system. Secondly, to analyze how those fre- trum analyzer was used to identify the intensity of noise around
quencies potentially affect on the adoption of RFID system. To 433 and 900 MHz by changing the angle of the antenna. According
measure operational environment of air-cargo for RFID we used to the results with Horn antenna (which was not present in this pa-
the following equipments (Table 2). In this analysis, we intention- per) at truck dock, 1.6 GHz noise was measured which was gener-
ally skipped the test of high frequencies (e.g. 125–134 kHz, ated by PCS phone and 2.14 GHz noise was appeared which was
13.56 MHz) based on the user requirements. generated by wireless LAN used by the office building close to
The height of antenna was set as 1.5 m (;4.92 ft) from the floor the truck dock cargo.
[26]. The test was measured toward four directions: north, south, The results of radio environment test showed that there were
east and west using LP antenna and Horn antenna. LP antenna cov- some discontinuous noises which might affect RFID performance
ers from 200 MHz to 1 GHz and Horn antenna covers from some degree in most of places in the cargo. Especially, we found
800 MHz to 18 GHz. In each direction, measuring was done two noise from 800 MHz (Noise from cellular phone), 1.6 GHz (Noise
times according to the angle of antenna considering the directivity from PCS phone), 446.20 MHz (Noise from Walkie Talkie) and also
of radio wave (i.e. at each point, the tests were done 16 times by quite strong noise around 2.45 GHz (Noise from wireless device
changing the angle of antennas and the direction of the LP and and other device) at transit point. By understanding the radio envi-
Horn antenna). ronment we could predict the potential impact of radio environ-
Five spots were chosen and details are as follows (see Fig. 5). ment and make careful decision for implementation technology.

 Point A(truck dock): truck dock is the place that cargo is unloaded 3.2. Operational environment of air-cargo
from truck.
 Point B(export zone): export zone is the place that export cargo is As Tzeng et al. [27] and Porter et al.[28] addressed real world
managed. Cargo is stored and built up. environment for RFID is quite different from laboratory environ-
 Point C (transit zone): import zone is the place that import cargo ment. There are several tag requirements according to US military
is managed. Cargo is stored and divided into individual cargo. specification such as low temperature, high temperature, mechan-
ical shock, humidity, drop test and etc. [29]. In our study, we found
that there were some areas that we had to consider practical oper-
Table 2
Equipment types and specification for measuring RFID operation environment.
ational condition additionally. For example, ULDs are going to
cleaning station with 90 °C for 3 min and also tag need harsh con-
Device types Specification
dition for unexpected shock by forklift and other force. Compared
Spectrum analyzer 9 kHz – 3 GHz to container type ULD, pallet type ULD is hard to mount RFID tag
Log-periodic (LP) antenna 200 MHz – 1 GHz and hard to trace information because quite frequently RFID tag
Horn antenna 800 MHz – 18 GHz
is covered by packaging materials. Fig. 6 shows recommended

Fig. 5. Test area at cargo terminal.

46 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52

Table 3
Example spectrum result for truck dock (200 MHz-1 GHz).

Point Antenna type Direction Antenna angle Result

Noise around 433 MHz Noise around 900 MHz
1 Truck dock LP antenna East Vertical 73.07 dbm 63.96 dbm
2 Truck dock LP antenna East Horizon 72.39 dbm 64.96 dbm
3 Truck dock LP antenna West Vertical 74.59 dbm 63.10 dbm
4 Truck dock LP antenna West Horizon 72.60 dbm 64.90 dbm
5 Truck dock LP antenna South Vertical 73.65 dbm 65.22 dbm
6 Truck dock LP antenna South Horizon 73.31 dbm 64.54 dbm
7 Truck dock LP antenna North Vertical 73.49 dbm 64.85 dbm
8 Truck dock LP antenna North Horizon 73.68 dbm 65.05 dbm

Fig. 6. Tag location for air pallet and tag install location.

Fig. 7. 433 MHz tag developed for this project.

tag installation location for pallet [30] and the detail shape of stud Table 4
hall (left figure) and example requirement for tag installation to Specification of RFID tag developed.
protect its package (right figure). Fig. 7 shows 433 MHz tag devel- Environmental Temperature Operating: 20 °C – +60 °C
oped in our project. To prevent unexpected shock by forklift, we storage: 20 °C – +60 °C
used acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) and designed the tag Humidity 70% at 50 °C
package to be inserted in the hall with researchable battery. Table UHF transmit/receiver Frequency 433.92 MHz
4 shows detail specification of RFID tag developed. Range Up to 20 m
In order to choose proper RFID technology for our pilot imple- Air protocol ISO 18000-7 air protocol
Modulation FSK, deviation ±50kHz
mentation, we have performed a benchmarking test in the cargo
Data rate 27.7 Kbps
with different hardware which uses different frequencies. Table 5 Data coding Manchester
shows brief description of test parameters and equipment. In this Antenna Chip antenna
test, 900 MHz system was based on the ISO 18000-6C protocol; Detail Wakeup and response is
2.45 GHz system was based on ISO 18000-4 protocol (mode 2: with 433 MHz only

battery); and 433 MHz system was based on ISO 18000-7 protocol. Digital (option) User memory Maximum 8 Kbytes
Directivity was tested for 0° and 30° while tug car speed test was Tag ID 4 Bytes (RO)
User ID 16 Bytes (R/W)
for 11 km/h which was suggested by airlines.
According to our test, at truck dock, a target object was iden- Power Battery 3.6 Volt lithium, rechargeable
TX/RX 22 mA
tified 100% from 1 m and over 93% of reading reliability was Sleep 5–8 lA
achieved from 2 and 3 m with 900 MHz system. At storage area, Battery life 6 months (3 events/day)
a target object was identified 100% from 1 m and over 90% of
 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52 47

Fig. 8. Example of control layer (left) and presentation layer (right) developed.

reading reliability was achieved from 2 m (but 0% from 3 m) Table 5

with 900 MHz system. The reason why we only tested 900 Test parameters and equipment.
MHz system for truck dock area and for storage area is that all Test location Target object Equipment Parameter
cargo is carried by skid or by box in those areas (currently for
Truck dock Item level 900 MHz Reading distance
skid and box level 900 MHz is widely used). At workstation, (box), skid directivity of antenna,
there exist both skid/box and ULD (container or pallet) which reading reliability
might need different technologies. Especially ULD is made of me- Storage Item level (box), 900 MHz Reading distance,
tal which might impact on the reading reliability. At workstation, skid, forklift directivity of antenna,
speed of tug car,
ULD was identified over 93% from 1 m but only 80% of reading
reading reliability
reliability was achieved from 2 m with 900 MHz system (but Work station Item level (box), 900 MHz, Reading distance,
0% from 3 m). But with 433 MHz, 100% reading reliability was ULD, forklift 433 MHz, directivity of
achieved. With 2.45 GHz system, 93% of reading reliability was 2.45 GHz antenna, reading reliability
Airside gate ULD, tug car 900 MHz, Speed of tug car,
achieved. At airside gate, only 433 MHz system achieved 100%
433 MHz, reading reliability
while 900 MHz system and 2.45 GHz system achieved around 2.45 GHz
90%. It is considered that such difference came from the robust-
ness of the system against operational environment and metal
environment.
 Automatic Identification and Data Capture (RFID, barcode)
based data.
 Manual input data by human resource.
4. Design and implementation of RFID based cargo monitoring
 Synchronized data: data which was synchronized with relevant
system
data in the application system (synchronization is
preprocessed).
4.1. Design of RFID based cargo monitoring system
In Table 7, descriptions of each data are as follows:
RFID based monitoring systems consists of physical layer, con-
trol layer and presentation layer. Physical layer includes automatic
 Business location identification data: a process location where an
identification data capturing (e.g. RFID, barcode etc.) and middle-
event is occurred.
ware which filters and transfer real-time data. In order to meet
 Location identification data: a physical location (spatial) where a
the global standard, we adopt EPC ALE specification [31]. Control
cargo is located when an event is occurred.
layer supports to transform the raw level real-time data into infor-
 ULD identification data: a unique identification data for a ULD
mation. In this layer, we embraced the concept of business process
which is operated in the given event.
modeling (BPM) and EPCIS [20] in order to automate various busi-
 SKID identification data: a unique identification data for a SKID
ness processes for users and to share the real-time data globally.
cargo which is operated in the given event.
Presentation layer provides information to the users. Examples
 MAWB identification data: a master airway bill identification
are Dashboard, 3D cargo track and trace, real-time cargo informa-
data required to synchronize document information and physi-
tion and asset management. Fig. 8 shows examples of control layer
cal cargo information.
(BPM) and presentation layer (Dashboard) developed in this pro-
 Time data: a timestamp history for each event.
ject. Details of RFID based cargo monitoring system will be ad-
dressed in the followings subsections.
Table 8 shows data model developed for our cargo monitoring
system which is based on the EPC network [20].
4.2. Event and design of EPC based data model
4.3. Implementation of RFID based cargo monitoring system
In order to monitor each process with RFID system, firstly we
define ‘‘event” for a specific process. In our research, data for event Trappey et al. [32] introduced an agent-based collaborative
is mostly collected by RFID in real-time mode (Table 6). mold production (ACMP) system which supports the collaborative
In monitoring a cargo, we classified data considering data col- and autonomous mold manufacturing out sourcing processes.
lection mode (Table 7). Details are as follows: ACMP provided autonomous features to handle three major tasks
48 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52

Table 6
Process, event and data.

Process Event Data (nominal data for defining event)

Arrival (receiving and check) Arrival  Business location identification data.
 MAWB identification data.
 SKID identification data.
 Time data.
Storage Storage  Business location identification data.
 Location (specific storage number in storage area) identification data.
 MAWB identification data.
 SKID identification data.
 Time data.
Build-up Build-up  Business location identification data.
 Location (specific workstation number in workstation area) identification data.
 ULD identification data.
 MAWB identification data.
 SKID identification data.
 Time data.
ETV-in (loading) ETV-in (loading)  Business location identification data.
 Location (specific rack location in ETV area) identification data.
 ULD identification data.
 MAWB identification data.
 SKID identification data.
 Time data.
Airside ETV-out  Business location identification data.
 ULD identification data.
 MAWB identification data.
 SKID identification data.
 Time data.

Table 7 Table 8
Classification of required data type. EPC network based data model for cargo monitoring.

Required data AIDC data Input data Synchronized Event Nominal data EPC data model Comments
(RFID) data
Arrival Business location ReadPointID
Business location  identification data
identification data MAWB identification data Parent ID Input data
Location   Rack location when (MAWB No.)
identification data loading a cargo SKID identification data Child EPCs
in the ETV Time data Event time/
ULD   record time
identification data
Storage Business location ReadPointID
SKID  
identification data
identification data
SKID identification data Parent ID
MAWB   MAWB No. 
Location identification Child EPCs
identification data
data
Time data 
Time data Event time/
record time
Build- Business location ReadPointID
in outsourcing: vendor selection, task selection, and real-time out-
up identification data
sourcing task progress tracking. In their development, RFID tech- ULD identification data Parent ID
nology was adopted to provide a real-time tracking capability for SKID identification data Child EPCs
remote collaboration, control and monitoring among outsourcing Location identification Child EPCs
partners. data
Time data Event time/
They demonstrated a methodology to transform the physical record time
process flow into information flow by taking the advantage of RFID
ETV-in Business location ReadPointID
technology. In our development, the RFID based cargo monitoring identification data
solution embraces FLEX and JAVA with Spring and Hibernate ULD identification data Parent ID
Framework. Fig. 9 show brief logical architectures of monitoring Location identification Child EPCs Input data (ETV
solution. data rack No.)
Time data Event time/
As in Fig. 9, RFID system consists of reader, antenna and tag.
record time
Once reader identifies tags, reader sends a tag data to RFID middle-
ETV- Business location ReadPointID
ware. For RFID code, we used SGLN for location, SGTIN for BOX,
out identification data
SSCC for ULD [33]. RFID middleware filters the data and send it ULD identification data Parent ID
to capturing application after converting it to ECreports data type. Time data Event time/
Capturing application reconstruct EPCIS data from the ECreports record time
data, send the data to BPM and EPCIS according to the predefined
capturing rule. After receiving EPCIS data, BPM helps cargo moni-
toring solution to perform next process. EPCIS stores EPCIS data in real-time without failure. In the figure, the event triggered when
and timestamp. Monitoring solution displays cargo information. assets are not placed as planned.
Fig. 10 shows a Java Messaging Service (JMS) application, to send Fig. 11 shows a physical architecture of cargo monitoring sys-
RFID ALE event to BPM and during the pilot, we transferred events tem installed at Incheon Airport during our pilot. In the figure
 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52 49

Fig. 9. Logical architecture of cargo monitoring solution.

‘‘433” stands for 433 MHz reader, ‘‘Blackfish” stands for RFID tag Air-cargo monitoring solution application (i.e. presentation
printer installed, other numbers are IP addresses. Details are as fol- layer application) consists of real-time cargo information (e.g.
lows (also see Table 9): booking list application, inspection application, build planning
application, build list application etc.), dash board application, as-
 Desktop, UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC). set management application and 3D cargo track and trace applica-
 900 MHz RFID stationary reader, antenna and mobile reader; tion. Fig. 14 shows screen shots of build planning application and
tag printer. 3D cargo track and trace application.
 433 MHz RFID reader and antenna.
 Tag: 900 MHz tag and 433 MHz tag. 5. Conclusion
 RFID code: SGLN, SGTIN, and SSCC.
In this paper, we introduced a RFID system based cargo moni-
Table 9 shows types of hardware installed in each process. toring system. We have presented a result of RF environment study
Fig. 12 shows implementation workflow. After receiving cus- for a cargo and an EPC network based cargo monitoring system we
tomer order, booking list is generated for each air flight. Each skid developed. From our RF environment study, it is considered that
information has mapped with air flight number in the database. careful study on operational environment should be preceded be-
After weighing and security check, an operator reads RFID tag at- fore individual implementation.
tached at cargo and ‘‘end” information of inspection process is Even though the development is still ongoing, during our pilot,
stored in the monitoring system. At storage area, SGLN code is used one of our partners (airline companies in Korea) found potential
for location identification. Once tag attached at cargo is identified, benefits of RFID based cargo monitoring solution as follows:
the system recognizes that the cargo is in the same area as SGLN
code. At workstation area, build-up plan is generated considering  Increasing visibility in cargo: capability to find location of a spe-
ULD, SKID information and build-up list. In this area, 433 MHz sys- cific cargo. Capability to expedite late cargo, visualization effect
tem and 900 MHz system are used together. 433 MHz system reads of cargo, real-time update of cargo information. In the past, it
ULD information while 900 MHz system reads SKID information was impossible to find the location of missing ULD. After apply-
during build-up process. After build-up, completed ULD is loaded ing RFID, by using the last-known location of a missing ULD
to Transfer Vehicle (TV), transferred to ETV by TV. At ETV entrance, together with process routing, the airlines have reduced the
RFID system in front of ETV gate identified ULD tag, and then the search time drastically.
system makes decision for the ULD location in the ETV rack. At air-  Cost saving related to operation of air-cargo process: elimination of
side gate, RFID system at gate identifies when some ULD is moving manual data entry and manual error. By applying RFID, the air-
out and sends the information to the monitoring system. lines expect to remove manual input processes.
Fig. 13 shows database diagram for cargo monitoring solution.  Cost saving related to asset management: physical ULD counting,
For implementation, Oracle 10 g database was used in this ULD write-off reduction, reduction in ULD carrying cost from
application. exact identification of ULD quantity, ULD lifecycle management.
50 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52

Fig. 10. Example JMS logic for to send ALE to BPM.

Fig. 11. Physical architecture of cargo monitoring system.

 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52 51

Table 9 With the specific installation method developed during this

Hardware used for implementation. project, the companies expect to improve their capability on
Process Tracking level Frequency Type asset management.
Inspection SKID 900 MHz Stationary and mobile
Storage SKID 900 MHz Mobile As pointed previously, there are a few researches in air-cargo
Workstation SKID 900MHz Stationary business, most of them had focused on the simple track and trace
ULD 433 MHz of goods, the reading accuracy test, but did not address the radio
ETV entrance ULD 433 MHz Stationary
Airside gate ULD 433 MHz Stationary
environment of air-cargo terminal and did not show pictures of
global data sharing networks. In this paper, we explained RFID

Fig. 12. Implementation workflow considering system architecture and cargo process.

Fig. 13. Data base diagram for pilot implementation.

52 Y.S. Chang et al. / Advanced Engineering Informatics 25 (2011) 41–52

Fig. 14. Build-up planning and 3D ULD monitoring.

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