Fraunhofer: The Internet of Things can control baggage handling systems

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Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, IML, in Dortmund, working with the Material Handling and Warehousing group at the University of Dortmund, have developed techniques for embedding “routing agents” at the nodes of automatic airport baggage conveyor systems that make on-the-spot decisions as to which way the baggage should be directed. The work shows it is possible to control large-scale conveyor systems using simple embedded agents.

The researchers says this is a step on the way to the so-called “Internet of Things” in which, packages, baggage and pallets all have their own embedded intelligence, enabling them to communicate with one another, and with the control units of the transport network.

Communication between the individual agents, that could be, for example, radio frequency identification tags or electronic sensors, is one of the focal points of the research.

Some 2,000 routing agents have been deployed in a single network. “We had to find a way of ensuring the reliable transmission of messages between the agents at peak load times,” says IML project manager Andreas Trautmann.

The baggage conveyor system in the study comprises more than 12,000 conveyor elements with 1,200 branches. These are supplemented by several stations for security checks and for manual encoding of baggage items that cannot be identified automatically.

The researchers say agent-based control has several advantages. In particular, there is no need for a central management system with complex control logic and elaborate data processing to guarantee the flow of baggage through the system.

If the volume of baggage builds up the agents seek alternative routes and redirect the flow. “Enhanced agent functions will enable us to outperform traditional control systems,” Trautmann said.