Descartes announces its open network initiative for air cargo tracking

Descartes Systems Group, the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that to support the growth of the Descartes Core Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) network, it is offering a new standard of interoperability with its Open Network Initiative.

The Descartes Core BLE network uses Descartes Core Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tags and readers to track the movement and status of air cargo as it passes through the multi-party community that makes up the air cargo logistics chain. The Descartes Core BLE network provides freight forwarders, airlines, ground handling agents (GHA) and express carriers with an industry-leading, Bluetooth®-enabled solution that automatically provides real-time visibility of air mail, parcel and cargo shipments and the assets used to move them. Shipment status can be tracked whether in the air or on the ground to help the air cargo community automate the end-to-end tracking of freight location and condition, such as precise temperature, movement, shock, light and humidity. This is especially important for high-value and cold chain air cargo shipments. Part of the Descartes Global Logistics Network™, the Descartes CORE BLE network is being deployed in over 350 airports across the world.

The Descartes’ Open Network Initiative expands the value of the Descartes CORE BLE network to air cargo industry participants by allowing third party, BLE-compatible devices to communicate over the network. Based on Bluetooth networking standards, Descartes’ Open Network Initiative offers the following benefits:

• Encourages other equipment manufacturers (OEM) to develop their own BLE tags by lowering the cost of entrance, as there is no need to build network infrastructure or invest heavily in network technology and staffing;
  
• Provides greater choice in BLE tags to address a wide range of requirements for diverse applications; and
  
• Creates an ecosystem to accelerate the digitization of logistics processes in the air freight industry.

“We’ve tested the compatibility of the Descartes CORE BLE network with our FindMyULD app and a third party BLE tag and, with minimal development effort, data is flowing seamlessly between the tag and our application servers,” said Steve Townes, CEO at ACL Airshop LLC. “In addition, we can better control the content, timing and volume of data transmitted by the tag and maintain security over the messages.”

“Descartes continues to lead the adoption of advanced electronic tracking technology for the air cargo industry,” said Scott Sangster, Vice President, Global Logistics Services Providers at Descartes. “The air cargo ecosystem operates as a network and it is to everyone’s advantage to maximize coverage and transparency and to improve visibility. Our Open Network Initiative facilitates this and makes participation in the IoT-based solution more accessible and more cost-effective for airlines, GHAs and freight forwarders alike.”