march2021 - 19

Photo courtesy of Jettainer

COVER STORY

once it is integrated in the process flow, does
not just stand somewhere on the floor. "
Using tracking technology in the aviation
industry requires special criteria and considerations. Additionally, van Geest says,
solutions must be reliable in service while
meeting aviation certification requirements.
" Devices that are loaded in the hold of an
aircraft cannot carry large power packs, tags
should have a substantial lifetime beyond five
years and there is clear limitation on energy
consumption. Furthermore, the radio transmitting technology must meet requirements
to avoid interference with aircraft systems, "
he says. " At Unilode, we were looking at many
technologies and have found Bluetooth Low
Energy to be the most suitable to serve our
purposes. "
Perceived advantages and disadvantages
can depend on the purpose the technology
serves. For example, van Geest says Unilode
needs data most importantly on geo location,
temperature, humidity and light.
" Given the rough environment ULDs are
exposed to, Bluetooth serves our purposes
the best. However, we are aware technology
evolves and we are capable to let our solution
also evolve in this process, " he notes. " We have
put a lot of efforts on the back-end solution so
that we can accommodate any new emerging
technologies that would further improve our
digitalization goals. "

According to Trapp, Jettainer works closely
with scientific institutes and IT experts to
keep up with new innovative and efficient
solutions.
" We are keeping a particularly close eye on
the development of 5G, Sigfox and LoRaWAN
and see great potential here, " he says.
" The low-power wireless network protocol
Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN)
has particular potential for ULD tracking.
LoRaWAN meets both critical challenges
for tracking technologies: high network
connectivity range and low power consumption, " Trapp adds. " However, further developments are needed here to catch up with BLE
technology. "
Trapp also notes it is important that any
new solutions introduced to the industry are
rolled out as widely and quickly as possible,
so that they can be used efficiently.
" However, this is where many new developments fail, as tracking regulations vary
from country to country. There is a risk that
new technology will be obsolete by the time
it is globally available on the market, " he says.
According to Rogers, ULD Care is working
to integrate a blockchain platform into current
systems to assist tracking transfers of ULDs
between airlines.
" Our ambition is wherever a ULD is
transferred from any party to any party, it
will be possible to record the transfer using a

handheld device - a mobile phone - and that
data will then be used to update our common
neutral platform, " Rogers says.

Technology's Role Amid the
Pandemic
In addition to logistic challenges faced with
distributing vaccines, the COVID-19 pandemic has tested the industry in other ways,
including limited repositioning capabilities,
staff reduction and unbalanced flows.
" The temperature sensor and the location-tracking device in ULDs enable 24/7
monitoring, which is especially important
for effective vaccine distribution as they
enable to check for unwanted deviations
and take appropriate actions to prevent loss
or damage of shipments, " van Geest points
out. " We prioritized the tagging of special
temperature-controlled cool containers in our
fleet so that we can offer the benefits of the
ULD tracking technology to our ULD management airline customers and contribute to
their COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts.
" We have also noticed an increased interest in digital ULD tracking as pallets have
become scarce assets and tracking helps
utilize them in a much more efficient way
with enhanced availability and much faster
turnaround times. "
" When it comes to COVID-19, we are
talking more about new ULD types, which

MARCH 2021

AviationPros.com

http://www.AviationPros.com

march2021

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