Descartes Systems Group has expanded its IoT network for air shipment and asset tracking, and condition monitoring.

The IoT network uses Bluetooth Low Energy powered tags placed on unit load devices (ULDs) or pallets to provide air carriers and ground handling agents (GHAs) with real-time visibility into the location and condition of air cargo shipments in transit and help them track the equipment and assets used to move air freight.

Over the past six months, Descartes has expanded network coverage through a 20% increase in the number of active readers worldwide, including in new countries Pakistan, Columbia, Ghana and India. and expansion in China.

Added technologies include solar-powered readers for outdoor ULD storage areas with no access to power; mobile readers to affix to GHA equipment for seven to eight days of tracking data on a single charge via USB; and a mobile app for anytime, anywhere access to data on the location and condition of air cargo shipments.

The company has tripled in-house resources used to monitor growing network operations.

“We’ve made significant investments in the overall growth of our IoT network for air cargo,” said Scott Sangster, general manager for logistics service providers at Descartes. “We’ve built out the network in more geographies, deployed active readers across more locations, and expanded the reach of the network with technology innovations that provide coverage in areas not previously accessible because of power restrictions. With the expanded network, we’ve increased the number of times tags communicate with the network by 26%. With these advances, air carriers and GHAs benefit from broader global coverage to track and monitor air cargo assets and shipments, which helps them to decrease operating costs and reduce losses through enhanced levels of visibility.”

With coverage in more than 1300 reader locations and 200 airports worldwide, Descartes operates one of the world’s largest IoT networks for air cargo shipment tracking and monitoring. Its IoT Bluetooth Low Energy ULD tracking uses Bluetooth tags affixed to containers or pallets, mobile applications and mesh networks to automate end-to-end tracking of assets.

Bluetooth tags affixed to ULDs prior to loading enable easy access to real-time location information, shipment-level condition data, such as temperature, light, humidity and movement, and chain of custody detail that indicates whose custody assets are in at any given time. Tags can also be added to any ground service equipment, such as dollies, for full control over a carrier’s equipment.

Descartes provides on-demand, software-as-a-service focused on improving the productivity, security and sustainability of logistics-intensive businesses. Its modular, software-as-a-service can be used to route, track and help improve the safety, performance and compliance of delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in its collaborative multimodal logistics community.

The firm’s headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and it has offices and partners around the world.