MILITARY SHIPMENT TRACKING SCT TECHNOLOGY LTD, LONDON, ENGLAND, 2017. WWW.SCTTECHNOLOGY.TECH
MILITARY SHIPMENT TRACKING This paper outlines the what, why and how of military shipment tracking from the perspective of SCT Technology Ltd, a supplier of shipment tracking software and hardware to NATO and several allied nations. To coin a well-known phrase, it is all about.. Right Kit to the Right Place at the Right Time at the Right Cost. Before we start, it would be worthwhile clarifying some terminology. We are using the GS1 definitions so shipment is generally taken as meaning one or more (transport) packages moving as a single tracked entity to a single consignee. Historically this was called consignment tracking, a term which has now migrated under the GS1 definition to describe a leg of a shipment. The word asset covers single items, usually with an identifier such as a stock number. However asset tracking tends to have a couple of meanings in that the assets in a transport package and shipment can be tracked in a shipment tracking system via their stock number but asset tracking can also mean the permanent tracking of a high-value asset for fleet management purposes versus shipment tracking which tracks assets in their move from a consignor to consignee. Logistics sets the campaign s operational limits 1 The What and Why It can be commonly agreed that a critical component of military logistics is to have in-transit visibility for assets moving in the supply chain. This visibility enables the commander to optimise the prioritisation and coordination of the logistic flow into, within and out of an area of operations. In-transit visibility of mission essential equipment provides information on the identify, status, quantity and location of capability and without this information the operational commander can not plan the prosecution of his mission until all the equipment is confirmed as having arrived in theatre. To quote the NATO AAP-51(B) Asset Tracking Business Process Model 2, the benefits of asset (shipment) tracking include the following: Improved visibility of key assets and the force as a whole. Expedited shipping of urgently required items while in-transit. Enhanced logistic management efficiency. Increasing the ability to locate delayed, missing or lost items. Greater assurance regarding high-value, high-risk or sensitive items while in-transit. 1 US DoD. Joint Warfare Publication 2 NATO Standard AAP-51 Edition B Version 1, May 2014. 1
Better predictive and analytical models of the logistic chain. Much earlier awareness of exception situations, e.g., the late arrival of an expected shipment. Increased collective ability to manage shipments and transportation loads while preserving visibility. In addition to those highlighted in the AAP-51, we believe the following are important considerations for having an efficient shipment tracking system such as SCT s CMA solution: Mission readiness assessment can be compromised by a lack of accurate and timely visibility of in-transit shipments. Reduced ability to respond in a timely manner to changing mission requirements due to a lack of supply chain visibility preventing redirection of supplies. Ability to redirect and reprioritise en route shipments and assets. Monitoring of scarce assets through the repair loop, eg aircraft engines, avionics: - Minimising impact on operational readiness due to equipment downtime resulting from the inability to flag and expedite critical spares parts through the supply chain. Automatic capture of location data, minimises human error. Minimise logistic footprint in terms of manpower needed to operate the Supply Chain. Security of containers. Environmental and security condition awareness of in-transit shipments decreases potential for delivery of unserviceable assets. Excess stock levels and duplicate requisitions due to lack of in-transit visibility result in added cost and inefficient use of logistics resources. Identify unplanned changes to shipment flow and route. An important part of shipment tracking for NATO and allied nations is the ability to be interoperable in terms of sharing an Automatic Identification Technology (AIT) reader infrastructure for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and barcodes and in terms of forwarding standardised tracking messages so that the operational commander s staff can have access to a a single system of record. The NATO Asset Tracking Working Group (AST WG) have generated a range of Standardisation Agreements (STANAGs) that cover this interoperability. A notable advantage for national shipment tracking systems that comply with the STANAGs is that they benefit from a partner network of tracking nodes so that in-transit visibility is maintained without necessarily needing to deploy national infrastructure or personnel. The above focuses very much on shipment tracking in terms of providing critical logistic visibility to the operational commander. A properly established and used shipment tracking system is equally useful for routine, non-operational supply chain management of military logistics. 2
As with operational shipments, in-transit visibility of routine moves means logistic staff can monitor supply chain efficiency (doing same with less) and effectiveness (doing more with same) by using the tracking data to identify bottlenecks and transit times to enable proactive management such as changing routes and allocating resources (e.g., cargo handling equipment and personnel) to where the demand actually is. The How In 2004 the NATO AST WG identified that the best technology available to meet their STANAGs for interoperable shipment tracking was RFID. Savi Technology Inc RFID suppliers to United States Department of Defence - was contracted to provide a demonstration system for use by NATO for tracking shipments into Afghanistan. Savi built software called the Consignment Management Application (CMA) and over the years delivered CMA and supporting RFID hardware to NATO, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. In 2017, Savi sold CMA and its international defence business to SCT Technology Ltd (SCT) of London, England. Today, SCT is refreshing CMA to comply with the latest AST WG STANAGs which reflect, amongst other things, the move within NATO to follow the commercial GS1 standards for transport grouping identification. In addition the new version of CMA (CMA 8 due for general release on 31 December 2017) is designed to leverage the improved functionality and lower cost of GPS tags that use GPRS for back-haul. The latest version of CMA will be available for upgrade for existing CMA users with effect from January 2018 and is being delivered to NATO in 2018. So, to answer The How : CMA 8 uses RFID and GPS tags / sensors to track Transport Packages and Shipments. Tag association is conducted using CMA edge software which then communicates to the CMA server (this can be installed at national server centres for use on dedicated and secure networks or alternatively provided as a cloud service from SCT). Tag reads are displayed on a Google map insert (other mapping options are available) and geofences are used to monitor progress and provide reports and alerts on events such as checkpoint arrival and departure, route deviation, security tampers and destination arrival. The CMA 8 datasheet available at www.scttechnology.tech provides more detail on the reporting capabilities but it is worth highlighting the following advantages from CMA s event management and alerting capabilities: Ability to exploit GPS data to geofence areas of interest and to report on events such as arrival, dwell time and departure. Alerts provided to Logistic staff for events affecting operation of the Supply Chain. Performance monitoring of 3PLs. Identify potential changes to pipeline time and impact on on-hand inventory. ETA notifications. Big data analytics. 3
Figure 1: CMA Concept Figure 1 above illustrates the CMA concept from the identification of assets (stock numbers / Unique Identification (UID) numbers etc) to the creation and consolidation of Transport Packages and the subsequent move along the supply chain. Overseeing these shipment moves is the CMA infrastructure of barcode, RFID and GPS sensors reporting into the application itself for visibility and management by the logistic staff. The CMA web user interface is designed to process the tracking information so that the display is configurable to the individual user. GPS tracking produces a lot of data so users are able to define what system events are important to them and to configure system or email alerts when those events occur; for example, delayed shipment moves, route deviation, late arrival, security tampers. This way the logistic staff can proactively manage the Supply Chain, identify chokepoints and take action accordingly. Figure 2: Indicative CMA 8 Dashboard screen shots 4
CMA 8 is being designed to use the latest mapping inserts (both on and off line mapping solutions will be available) and Figure 2 shows some indicative dashboard views showing the breadcrumb trail of a shipment on the map with its associated event record listed for drilling down into the details. An important part of the CMA package is the hardware. SCT uses the latest active RFID sensors (tags) and fixed readers from Savi Technology Inc who have been supplying RFID equipment to the United States Department of Defence for over 20 years. CMA 8 in particular will be offering the Savi STR-900 sensor as shown in Figure 3 below - which is a combined RFID and GPS tag with built in GPRS back-haul direct to the server. This tag will be unique in that as well as reporting its GPS position via the mobile phone network (GPRS) it has a built in RFID reader board which means it will also read within a range of approximately 50 metres up to 25 active RFID tags, such as the ST-654 shown below at Figure 4, and then report their location as well as its own. This offers considerable operational advantages in that a fixed reader infrastructure is no longer needed and visibility improves from a last seen at report to a mapped breadcrumb trail which combined with geofenced routes means almost instant alerting to the Logistics Staffs when a tracked shipment or asset moves into or out of an area of interest. Figure 3: Savi STR-900 Sensor Figure 4: Savi ST-654 Active RFID Sensor Summary To summarise, CMA is a proven turnkey product from SCT and its partners that provides a complete military shipment and asset tracking solution that uses the latest technology and provides a system fully interoperable to GS1 and NATO standards. In-transit visibility is a critical part of logistic command and control today and offers considerable value to both the logistic and operational commander. Please contact us for more details and to arrange a demonstration. 5