Introduction to the Problem
Many manufacturers operate across multiple sites, not just a single factory. These sites can be across the road or the country. Goods are shared and transported between sites; for example, a manufacturer may move a set of parts or finished products to another site's warehouse.
Tracking within manufacturing refers to knowing where an item is at any given moment. This could be current knowledge of a part location, its stage in production or its current journey progress. Information on the location of something can be used to identify the current state, arrival times or delays during manufacturing operations. Many tracking solutions exist to help track where products are. GPS/GNSS-based systems are used as goods are transported outside, but these do not work inside. Technologies such as BLE, RFID, and UWB are used to locate items inside factories. However, these require fixed anchoring points from which to triangulate.
Multiple tracking systems can be used to track goods, but this increases the cost and complexity of the final tracking system. This cost makes tracking between sites less accessible to SMEs. There is a need for tracking systems to track goods as they move between and within multiple manufacturing sites. These systems should not rely on base stations or fixed points that need to be installed in factories to ensure new sites or routes can be easily added or removed.
Solution
An Android app has been built that can run on any low-cost Android device (we use Samsung Galaxy tablets, which cost less than £100). Phones and tablets have excellent localisation software that uses GPS and cell phone data. Location data outside is collected via GPS or phone signal; however, cell phone data provides triangulation of location as it moves inside. The challenge is getting this data from the device to the start or end partner and database. Many commercial systems provide no automatic access (such as APIs) to data.
The app created collects localisation data from the tracked device and sends it to the sender and receiver using a cloud MQTT Broker (run on AWS). The data is not stored on AWS; it is just forwarded to the goods' final receiver or sender. The application allows tracking to be turned off and on during the journey, providing privacy when needed. Data is recorded by the start and the receiving location; time of arrival is calculated based on the data using an app run locally on any computer with internet access. All data is securely passed using TLS security.