Internet of Things for Supply

¶ … Internet of Things for Supply Chain Management

The Internet of Things or IoT is the model for the methodology behind the evolution of the internet. The Internet of Things is a dynamic and evolving web of information connecting the digital world to the tangible world using sensors within the RFID chip. There were 1.3 billion radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs) and two billion mobile service users, worldwide, in 2005." (Buckley, 2006) the definition of IoT can be more properly defined to include a global network that tracks movement and information on any sensory input. Researchers that speak about the IoT have went on to "describe a future ubiquitous sensor enabled network that collects commercial and personal data associated with objects in the public and private settings." (Cute, Young, 2008) in short, "The Internet of Things describes a worldwide network of intercommunicating devices." (Buckley, 2006) the importance of IoT to supply chain management is "in supply chain settings, the need for secure and selective visibility for data sharing is significant for commercial entities." (Cute, Young, 2008) Additional researchers do define IoT as information that needs to get from point a to B. And the speed inherently is a competitive advantage. To accomplish this feat, the IoT must become "a network of billions or trillions of machines communicating with one another. "In what is called the Internet of Things, sensors and tiny devices (actuators) embedded in physical objects-from roadways to pacemakers-are linked through wired and wireless networks, often using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the Internet." (Chui, Loffler, Roberts, 2010) the link to supply chain ostensibly is apparent. "Traditional supply chains are evolving into complex networks with numerous stakeholders." (Hribernik, Warden, Thoben, Herzog, 2010) the use of technology to track the movement through the supply chain is the product of IoT. RFID chips on packages will enable real-time tracking on the movement of goods throughout the world. "Finally, the structure effect indicates an individualization of transport on the micro-logistics level." (Hribernik, Warden, Thoben, Herzon, 2010) Arguably at the heart as the enabler of IoT is DNS. Essentially DNS enables the transition from raw digital information to real world linkage of human identifiers to human residences such that there is a match of "numerical addresses to human readable names. (Cute, Young, 2006) So the IoT enables information relay and exchange using RFID from sensory communication. The purpose for this may be done for a variety of reasons yet the most specific reason is to enhance the value of the supply chain. The supply chain is a system of linkage from one area of progress to the next. Each movement throughout the supply chain adds value to the end consumer either through development of the product or through movement of the developed product through the use of package shipping. This may be best described as "general supply chain and product management: Supply chain integration: Product life cycle integration: Inventory management: Spare-part warehousing: Warehouse management: Warehouse batching for delivery: Quality control: Serial number look-up: Field service management." (Buckley, 2006)

Problems

A large number of issues have arisen with concern to the tracking of identifiable products across the IoT and affecting public and private networks. "Among the biggest concerns are: privacy, control, and the ability for businesses to not just remain competitive in the face of these new technologies, but to actually realize operational and economic advantages." (Cute, Young, 2008) the particular problems that have been identified include "unique identification of items is a key issue. The successful management of fraudulent identities further implies global cooperation between all stakeholders." (Cute, Young, 2008) to best manage the system and prevent fraudulent identities from enabling terrorist action or other adverse activity from creating financial distress requires the control of the supplier. "Identifier Authorities want to continue to manage their unique identifier schemes and yet leverage the next generation of information exchange. (Cute, Young, 2008) and although the supplier is able to discern the unique identifier, there must be a system that enables information sharing as to facilitate transparency. The goal of transparency is to assign accountability should issues arise that must require attentive action. "National and Regional authorities want to ensure that entire control of this next generation information sharing does not lie exclusively within the power of a specific public or private authority. They want to ensure accountability with respect to local law and policy in any solution for information exchange." (Cute, Young, 2008) the need to provide a uniform identifier system that enables all parties involved at a low cost is critical to success of this system. "All parties want to be assured that any approach is practical, scalable and allows for open competition in providing these information services."(Cute, Young, 2008) Additional issues that were identified include "the system perspective, how networked systems are likely to evolve. The implications of device connectivity on future network architectures and technologies. The specific security, privacy, trust and confidence issues. The service architectures that are needed to support the applications of trillions of connected devices. The service composition and delivery prospects. The role of "open" (software) models. The role of wireless technologies. The related non-R&D issues, such as governance, spectrum and consumer acceptability. The developments in other regions of the world and prospects for collaboration." (Buckley, 2006) Although these are not problems per se, the lack of integration and strategic planning at the current phase creates a problem when considering these issues in context to the development of the IoT. "The fact that devices may be related to an identity (through naming and addressing) raises in turn a number of privacy and security challenges." (Buckley, 2006) "People will resist the Internet of Things if there is no public confidence in it. Public fears are likely to focus on a handful of security and privacy factors. Vulnerability to attack: Tag cloning and identity theft: Access rights to data: Quality and integrity: Capture of personal data: Retention of personal data." (Buckley, 2006)

Opportunities

The comprehensive nature of the IoT provides a large number of opportunities for manufacturers, suppliers, developers, and the market as a whole. "RFID applications have established themselves and are here to stay." (Buckley, 2006) the RFID has enabled successful tracking of packages that prevent loss and financial loss as well. "The majority of currently successful applications employ RFIDs in the process of industrial and commercial asset tracking and management. Some of these are "quick wins." One of the presentations claimed that returns on investment within 6 to12 months have been achieved. The biggest returns are to be had when tracking is applied to high value, mobile items that hitherto did not have structured handling. The return is likely to be less dramatic in situations where RFIDs replace structured handling using earlier technology, for example barcodes or manual paper-based systems." (Buckley, 2006) Additionally, the sensors used can allow manufacturers to provide products that continue the use of the product. Such uses is in the manufacturing and increased development of robotic technology that has already entered the market place. "Manufacturers may use sensor technology to create extended products. This adds value to physical goods by providing a service element. Robot technology is today normally associated with manufacturing and business; however one presentation suggested that the home robotic market might exceed the industrial market within ten to twenty years; time." (Buckley, 2006) Further development in enhanced tracking systems as a function in the development of robotic technological improvements has facilitated a new operating environment. "The augmentation of physical objects with decision systems, sensors, and actuators, as well as the permeation of the environment with it is central to several multi-disciplinary increasingly convergent fields such as Ambient Intelligence, Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing." (Hribernik, Warden, Thoben, Herzog, 2010) the Internet of Things in particular has facilitated the "AutoID technology can be leveraged to unambiguously associate software agents with physical logistic entities." (Hribernik, et al. 2010) the novel use of IoT in the field of transportation logistics is presented on the basis involving the characteristics of the material and information flows to be connected. Various scenarios for the IoT have been designed to predict the best overall use of such an application. "The scenario deals with the transport of foodstuffs. It has been specifically selected due to the necessity to monitor the quality of the transported foods e.g. using sensors (Jedermann et al. 2008a) and shelf-life prediction." (Jedermann et all. 2008b) There have been specific applications of Iot in solving the issues within the field of logistics. "IoT concepts and technologies have previously been applied to problems in the field of logistics. In the area of transport logistics, the autonomous transport of logistics objects from the sender to the delivery address has been considered as a paradigmatic field of application (Ten Hompel) (Hribernik, et al. 2010) "In autonomous control, particular focus is placed upon smart logistics entities which are able to interact with each other. These entities may be either material or immaterial items." (Hribernik, et al. 2010) "Autonomous Control describes processes of decentralized decision-making in heterarchical structures. It presumes interacting elements in non-deterministic systems, which possess the capability and possibility to render decisions independently." (Bose & Windt) "Sensor networks and pervasive networking approaches are also of high interest to the mobile industry. Context aware applications using mobile devices with dynamically varying service platforms are currently under investigation by mobile operators." (Buckley, 2006) "Growing demand for radio usage implies either the spread of unlicensed bands in breadth and number, or the spread of new technology which: allows transparent overlap of multiple signals (direct spread spectrum): adapts and compensates for already occupied spectrum with cognitive radio and software defined radio." (Buckley, 2006)

Solutions

The issues presented that intend to hinder the development of the IoT include linking a large number of decentralized servers. "Afilias believes that DNS provides a publicly available platform that can be leveraged for homing multiple, decentralized ONS services." (Cute, Young, 2008) it is generally easier to describe any solution using an example however, there are examples used, which remain conceptual in nature. "A review of the problem points and why this architectural solution assists or addresses them: Unique identification of items is a key issue and many parties think about solving this issue by labeling products with globally unique identifiers." (Cute, Young, 2008) Again by leveraging the current DNS systems and providing a simple translation mechanism, Identity Authorities can utilize public networks by establishing referral systems using any of the current or country top level domains. "It's also important to note that ICANN has now announced intentions to open the TLD space extensively to new TLDs, therefore another option is to found a new Top Level Domain." (Cute, Young, 2008) to briefly explain the use of DNS in this application, "DNSEEC (DNS Security) is a recently deployed solution that, if fully propagated, ensures that DNS referrals are from legitimate sources." (Cute, Young, 2008) "By applying the widely adopted EPC global Architecture Framework to the problem, a standards-based solution may be derived which provides a solid basis for platform independent interoperability. A wide range of relevant logistics it systems may be integrated into and make use of the resulting Internet of Things for transport logistics, consequently making autonomous cooperating logistics processes feasible in operation logistics environments." (Hribernik, et al. 2010) "Having proposed a means to represent agent-to-product associations, we now consider the complementary case of agent-to-resource associations. This is a specific case of the general problem of associating software agents with resources. The solution proposed here assumes that both agent and resources are assigned EPCs." (Hribernik, et al. 2010)

Examples