Technology and innovation at the tipping point
We are at the tipping point. Technology cannot be ignored – even in old, traditional industries. ...
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By Alex Lennane
In the second part of our series on the nominees for IATA’s Air Cargo Innovation Awards, we feature CanTrack
An innovation from CHEP, CanTrack does what it says: it tracks ULDs. But it does so using solar power; it harvests its own energy, thus overcoming the potential pitfalls of tracking systems which rely on battery life alone.
Working with OnAsset, which already has a tracking device approved for use on an aircraft, CHEP wanted a way to automate tracking its ULSDs – ...
Comment on this article
Ed Kerwin
February 24, 2015 at 5:59 pmAnd using solar power is a “green” solution too. Does the device add much weight to the rare of the ULD? Now all we need is for the ULD to gather information about the shipments loaded inside and the aircraft it is loaded aboard to add to the visibility.
Floris Kleijn
March 03, 2015 at 12:30 pmDear Ed – Thank you very much for your interest
and comment. From a weight perspective our
design target is about 1,5kg or lower.
Unfortunately, the solution inevitably adds some
weight but adding lightweight materials to the
design and minimizing the solar panel to a minimum
will help us to keep overall additional weight to
below 1,5 kg. As for the association of the
shipments with the ULD you are spot on.
That is exactly the visibility we are hoping to
provide including additional telemetry / sensor
data around the well-being of the shipment.
Viktoriya
May 05, 2015 at 2:08 pmThis is really great!!!
But it is so interesting to know how much money will the implementing of this innovation cost?
Floris Kleijn
May 15, 2015 at 11:58 amDear Viktoriya – Thank you so much for your kind words and asking this important question. Unfortunately it is not easy to provide a clear answer on this for you yet. Our current assumptions are that as CHEP we will be able to absorb the initial launch cost of the solution for our customers, however the provision of longer term data services derived from the sensor devices (e.g. temperature monitoring) is something that needs to be examined in greater detail once requirements for such a service have been refined. I hope that nonetheless this is helpful in terms of an initial response. Please feel free to contact us at Aerospace@CHEP.com.