Development of a Supply Chain Product Monitoring Network

Abstract

With world exports of agricultural products increasing by an average of 5% per annum, there is a critical need for systems capable of actively monitoring such perishables during exportation. Existing systems to monitor the condition of products typically do not actively track over the entire supply chain. This paper describes the development and the experimental trialing of an active monitoring system that is able to monitor any damage or extreme conditions imposed on products during their journey by measuring various parameters including temperature, humidity and mechanical shock. The system integrates GPS, ZigBee and cellular technologies in order to send the sensor and positional data from a pallet in transit to a front-end user interface. The design is flexible enough to incorporate more energy efficient alternatives like Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) to the utilized cellular technology.