Airport logistics: why asset tracking is needed

Airport logistics management can be a real challenge. In case of passengers or cargo transportation, airport operations involve a wide variety of vehicles and cargo handling equipment.

Therefore, companies in the industry are starting to invest in asset tracking systems. According to Berg Insight, analytics and consulting society, the global installed base of active airport asset tracking systems will continue to grow in years to come.

Market forecasts say that by 2024 there will be about half a million tracking systems installed, up compared to 200,000 systems installed in 2019. And it is expected that the market will register an annual growth of 15.4%, even if the pandemic could lead to a slowdown in the short term.

Greater efficiency and sustainability: challenges for airport logistics companies

Logistics operations in airport areas require the use of many vehicles that vary in size, type and cost. From carts used for carrying luggage to aircraft ground handling equipment, refuellers and ground power units.

While some assets have a high book value, others have a lower value but are crucial for the operations’ safety and efficiency. Despite the fact that the pandemic has drastically reduced the number of passengers, the need to manage operations and assets more efficiently is more relevant than ever.

A necessity that also results from companies’ need to reduce costs especially now that the industry is going through a crisis. There’s more: even in this area the demand for sustainable practices is growing, to reduce environmental impact.

Why choose airport asset tracking solutions

The real-time locating IoT (Industry of Things) systems (RTLS Real-Time Locating System) simplify tracking of assets for the company, offering significant benefits to operations and staff maintenance.

The use of devices for asset localization and tracking platforms allows an integrated and optimized management of company resources.

An interesting example concerns the application of IoT solutions to “simple” assets such as luggage carts made available to airport customers so that the user does not have to return the cart to the designed area to recover the amount of money inserted during the picking phase. In these contexts luggage carts are often abandoned in a disorderly manner and in remote areas of the airport, making the task of collecting them very difficult and expensive for workers

In fact, a strategy that relies only on visual feedback given by workers can succeed in small settings, but not in large and complex areas like airports. To make collection operations more efficient and ensure proper distribution in strategic points for a premium customer experience, it is possible to adopt effective IoT solutions with low economic, energetic impact and with simple installation. These solutions’ technology is the one coming from uMesh networks.

How to locate resources in real time thanks to asset tracking platforms

The use of these infrastructures for cart tracking – but also other vehicles and equipment used in airport areas – allows to know, in real time, which carts, vehicles and equipment can be available and in which area of the airport they can be located.

By no longer having to spend time looking for assets, operations become faster and more efficient. The choice of the platform is crucial to enable so many other features besides tracking and localization.

The most innovative solutions, in fact, are based on standard architectures and protocols. This enables a bidirectional communication between platforms and vehicles, regardless of the technology and devices used.

Safety in airport areas, how to improve it with RTLS

Another application concerns the improvement of safety, element as important as difficult to manage in such complex settings.

For example, thanks to IoT Real-Time Locating Systems, it is possible to control access to critical areas of the airport, without the need to implement additional physical barriers. Equally, it is possible to delimit the area of use of a vehicle or machinery, so that it’s not misused.

And more, thanks to RTLS devices the company can control who is using machinery or a vehicle making sure that the use is only authorised for trained staff.

Accidents prevention for a company means avoiding delays in operations and unexpected costs, while ensuring a safer working environment for employees.

More efficient maintenance thanks to asset tracking platforms

Data collection from vehicles and assets equipped with IoT sensors provides the company with strategic insights able to optimize asset management.

From the time of use of machinery / vehicles, to engine temperature, fuel level, suffered impacts and much more. Thanks to these information the company can enable remote diagnostics.

In fact, the monitoring of the performance and data of vehicles and equipment allows to promptly detect signals that could indicate a malfunction of the vehicle or its item.

In this way the company can intervene before a failure occurs, avoiding machine or vehicles downtime. In addition, interventions of maintenance can be programmed when they are really needed, saving valuable resources.

The potential of 5G for asset tracking and management

With advancements in digital technologies, more and more companies will choose to digitize facilities and adopt 4.0 technologies. This will further push the demand for fast and reliable networks.

A question 5G will be able to answer, which will create new opportunities for asset localization and tracking. It will allow, in fact, to further reduce latency and achieve even better levels of accuracy.

Thanks to the ability to detect, in even shorter times, critical situations, companies will be able to improve maintenance strategies.

At the same time, the volume and importance of collected information will increase the need for safety. Private 5G networks, of which some first cases of industrial use can already be found, will certainly be an interesting development in this area.

More informed asset management thanks to Big Data tracking

To this day companies can collect large volumes of data (Big Data), thanks to the evolution reached by the Internet of Things.

Through integration of asset tracking platforms with other solutions used by companies (such as MES and WMS), it is possible to enable further benefits.

For example, the use of data collected by other companies systems, can create reports able to improve decision making processes. There’s more, thanks to the support of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the company can also review management of spaces in the perspective of greater efficiency and safety.

These changes can be tested first in a digital space, thanks to technologies such as Digital Twin, thus saving time and costs.