In collaboration with Cabka-IPS , Telent , and metraTec , the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF has developed an IoT palette with integrated wireless and sensor module. The basis for the smart carrier is the uplink to the IoT cloud via cost-efficient LPWAN. The IoT palette provides various sensor data collection, analysis, and communication functions that can be flexibly combined. This provides companies with a constant overview of the relevant location, movements, load, and cargo status. According to the Fraunhofer IF F, this helps makes shipments more cost-effective, secure, and transparent. The technology can also be used in large warehouses or at transshipment points. Shipping provider DHL and the institute are currently trialing the system at DHL’s air cargo hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

To measure freight at hubs with no solid infrastructure, the Fraunhofer IFF has also developed measuring drones that work both indoors and outdoors. Combined with an autonomous, mobile starting base, they enable freight to be scanned directly on site and transport goods that are too big or too irregularly shaped for conventional laser scanners to be recorded.