German logistics company uses RFID and video technology to track packages
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German logistics company Pfefferkorn Spedition will use RFID combined with surveillance images to quickly find the location of parcels that are constantly moving in the warehouse. The RFID system is provided by AeroScout and integrated with the video surveillance equipment provided by the German Industrial Video System (DIVIS). Pfefferkorn can not only identify the location of a specific package at any time, but also quickly grasp the processing video of the package in the warehouse. In the past, it took more than an hour to find such an image from a large number of images stored in a camera in a warehouse.
German logistics company Pfefferkorn Spedition
Federal regulations require all German logistics companies to keep records of the shipment of packages in warehouses. Therefore, if a package is damaged, lost or needs to be re-delivered when it arrives at its destination, the shipper can learn in detail where the package passes through the entire supply chain, and it can also provide video evidence of the warehouse loading or unloading the goods .
Two months ago, this system was put into use. Previously, at a warehouse in Heilbronn in southern Germany, Pfefferkorn used a camera to record the operation of the warehouse at any time when loading or unloading packages. In this way, when a parcel is lost or damaged, Pfefferkorn must find the transportation record of the relevant parcel from the original video data.
Pfefferkorn warehouse landscape
Each package is marked with a barcode. When workers scan barcodes entering or leaving the warehouse, the system generates records. In the new solution, warehouse employees use handheld scanners to process packages. AeroScout EMEA regional manager Andris Berzins said that 40 barcode scanners are implanted with AeroScout active RFID tags based on the 802.11b standard. The tag uses the Wi-Fi communication protocol to transmit the unique ID code to a nearby fixed-point receiver.
Pfefferkorn has about 12 Wi-Fi receivers installed every 90 feet in the warehouse; 89 cameras are also installed in the warehouse.
After the receiver captures the tag ID in the nearby handheld scanner, it connects these numbers to the network server via Ethernet along with the specific time of each received transmission. AeroScout Engine software calculates the exact position of the handheld barcode scanner through triangulation, and takes a picture of the location with a camera.
Based on these positioning data, DIVIS CargoVIS software can identify which images record the parcel processing process and which need to be saved by Pfefferkorn. Correspondingly, those videos that have not recorded any activity should be discarded. In addition, the software associates the barcode of the package scanned at a certain moment with the location of the handheld scanning device. In this way, by scanning the barcode of the package, you can immediately know the location and number of times the package is transported in the warehouse.
DIVIS marketing manager Volker Wittchow said that the software divides the shooting range of each camera according to the map. Once the location of a scanner is known, it can find a camera whose shooting range covers the location of the AeroScout scanner, so DIVIS will Know which camera image to keep.
Wittchow believes that when the package is transported in the warehouse, workers can scan the package barcode three times in total. The first time, when unloading the package from the truck; then, when passing the hall inspection; and finally, when loading the outbound truck again. Pfefferkorn began installing this system in November 2006. Berzins estimates that the company will install this system in more warehouses in Germany within a year.
To date, approximately half a million packages have used the AeroScout/DIVIS system in the warehouse. Berzins said, “The system has been working very well.” Pfefferkorn can locate the image of the package after it passes through the warehouse by determining the barcode of the package. The system displays its location and time of movement in the warehouse. Pfefferkorn can not only use these data to review the processing of a package, or to confirm the date and time of the package in the warehouse, but also to identify the package that needs to be re-delivered to prevent it from being shipped out of the warehouse.
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