Day: 19 May 2020

Wagtail UK are delighted to announce that they have successfully achieved government certification to provide explosive detection dog service for the UK air cargo industry.

Wagtail UK have undertaken a rigorous training programme set out by the UK government to prepare dogs for air cargo screening. The dogs are referred to as Free Running Explosive Detection Dogs (FREDD) and have been approved by the European Commission as an acceptable method of screening aviation cargo for the presence of explosives.

The air cargo sector continues to be a primary target for terrorists. With billions of pounds of cargo transported nationwide each day and the growing prevalence of explosive threats, security vigilance is a constant priority throughout the industry.

With an unparalleled sense of smell, explosive detection dogs have a unique ability to sniff out odours in parts-per-trillion. The dogs work in close partnership with their human handlers and are trained to check freight for a range of explosive materials. Dogs also smell in layers, which allows them to recognise an individual explosive ingredient even when that explosive is masked by other odours. Dogs are able to move around the cargo to conduct the search without interfering with the sort process or freight environment.

Now certification has been attained Wagtail will provide a FREDD service to be used alongside existing cargo screening methods, offering a rapid and effective way of screening large volumes of air cargo, reinforcing the UK’s aviation security.

Wagtail’s first dog to successfully achieve government certification, Ben, has undergone over 12 months of rigorous training before being deployed in the cargo sheds. As he carries out his operational duties, he will go through a regular quality assurance programme.

Collin Singer, Managing Director Wagtail UK Ltd, commented: “The certification process is challenging and rightly so! There are a number of tests which increase in difficulty until both the handler and dog meet the high standards required.” “The achievement of this certification strengthens Wagtail’s reputation as one of Europe’s leading detection dog companies.”

Wagtail UK has a rather impressive track history and has provided detection dogs and related services for government agencies such as HM Revenue & Customs, Police, Trading Standards and Armed Forces. In addition, Wagtail is contracted by Border Force to provide ‘Body Detection Dogs’ in Northern France 24/7, 365 days a year).

Wagtail have a number of other dogs in training ready now to be assessed. Collin stated: “Covid-19 has delayed having seven more of our dogs assessed, however the safety of our staff and dogs is paramount. We will complete the assurance process with seven more dogs when it is safe to do so.”

Both the certification and quality assurance process that the dogs go through is set by the Department for Transport (DfT) and is undertaken by the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Dft will share oversight with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the CAA will have a further responsibility ensuring those who operate the dogs do so in line with the standards set out by Dft.

Meyer Bergman is creating a €2 billion platform allowing institutional investors to tap into surging demand for last-mile distribution centres, with the launch of Crossbay.

Industrial real estate has been one of the most popular property sectors over the last few years as retailers have adopted omni-channel formats and consumers have increasingly switched to on-line shopping. However, large warehouse occupiers remain sensitive to the economy – particularly for manufacturers of industrial goods.
However, Meyer Bergman claims its last-mile logistics strategy is more insulated from GDP movements for several key reasons:
• Developing new last-mile distribution hubs is extremely difficult, due to planning restrictions. Municipalities favour housing, exacerbating the current demand-supply imbalance.
• Most goods distributed through last-mile hubs go direct to consumers – something likely to significantly increase post-COVID-19
• Occupiers take long leases and pay a premium for the best locations because speedy access to customers gives them a competitive advantage

Headed by Marco Riva (above), who led more than €2 billion of deals while at Logicor (Blackstone’s big box warehouse business), Crossbay is the first pan-European real estate platform targeting single tenant assets in gateway cities.
Occupiers will benefit from Meyer Bergman’s global network of business partners, it says, which includes many leading retailers, as well as the firm’s asset management expertise and specialist micro-market knowledge from its local teams.

Meyer Bergman is creating a €2 billion platform allowing institutional investors to tap into surging demand for last-mile distribution centres, with the launch of Crossbay.

Industrial real estate has been one of the most popular property sectors over the last few years as retailers have adopted omni-channel formats and consumers have increasingly switched to on-line shopping. However, large warehouse occupiers remain sensitive to the economy – particularly for manufacturers of industrial goods.
However, Meyer Bergman claims its last-mile logistics strategy is more insulated from GDP movements for several key reasons:
• Developing new last-mile distribution hubs is extremely difficult, due to planning restrictions. Municipalities favour housing, exacerbating the current demand-supply imbalance.
• Most goods distributed through last-mile hubs go direct to consumers – something likely to significantly increase post-COVID-19
• Occupiers take long leases and pay a premium for the best locations because speedy access to customers gives them a competitive advantage

Headed by Marco Riva (above), who led more than €2 billion of deals while at Logicor (Blackstone’s big box warehouse business), Crossbay is the first pan-European real estate platform targeting single tenant assets in gateway cities.
Occupiers will benefit from Meyer Bergman’s global network of business partners, it says, which includes many leading retailers, as well as the firm’s asset management expertise and specialist micro-market knowledge from its local teams.

By Pedro Pachuca, Director of IoT Wireless in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group

As application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the logistics sector continues to develop, so the inevitable clamour to create asset tracking solutions with the highest possible levels of accuracy and security has increased.

However, this aim has some challenges including:
• These include the difficulty in integrating different LPWAN, GPS and Wi-Fi systems from multiple suppliers
• How to prevent batteries becoming depleted within very short timeframes
• How to guarantee security without inflating running costs
• How to avoid having to invest in separate systems to manage indoor and outdoor asset tracking

Long range (LoRa) wireless radio frequency technology has been used in the management of supply chains and logistics operations for many years, but now there has been a step change that enables the technology to address all of the above problems in an easy-to-use package. The result is a single system that can deliver on asset location and traceability (both indoor and outdoor), asset loss, theft prevention and recovery, and geofencing (using GPS and Wi-Fi technology to create virtual boundaries around a location).

The new low-power LoRa Edge™ platform from Semtech is a geolocation solution designed to offer a versatile way of delivering a range of applications for indoor and outdoor asset management. It does this by combining a multi-constellation GNSS scanner, a Wi-Fi passive scanner and a low power LoRa transceiver. Power consumption is significantly reduced to around 10 per cent of that required by existing solutions, as LoRa Edge uses LoRa Cloud geolocation and device management services so that power-intensive location computations are carried out in the cloud.

To tackle the security issue, the security keys for LoRa Edge use a highly secure hardware module, which means that logistics managers no longer need to carry out costly secure processes or buy in expensive security-based hardware. Also, since LoRa Edge is a cost-effective solution it enables rapid expansion of asset tracking and location services that take maximum advantage of IoT systems.

Costs and inconvenience associated with locating and monitoring assets are minimised by the ability of LoRa Edge’s devices to operate for up to three years on a single battery or charge. The advanced design of LoRa Edge chipsets means that batteries on asset trackers no longer need to be changed every three to six months as is the case when using conventional Wi-Fi technology. LoRa Edge devices also offer such a high level of flexibility that it is straightforward to switch to GPS scanning should the asset leave a building or a geofenced zone.

For example, a LoRa Edge transceiver makes use of GPS satellite tracking for outdoor applications and Wi-Fi passive scanning for tracking indoor assets.

Indoor tracking
There are two elements to indoor asset tracking – indoor only and outdoor-to-indoor. For indoor-only, it’s easy to track such assets as medical equipment in hospitals, power tools in a construction environment, high-value retail items in a store, or components, boxes and pallets in a warehouse. Outdoor-to-indoor tracking involves monitoring the movement of assets from one location to another then continuing to track them when they arrive at their destination. By combining GPS scanning and Wi-Fi scanning, the LoRa Edge platform enables automatic and seamless switching from outdoor to indoor monitoring on a continual basis without any need for human intervention.

Typically, Wi-Fi accuracy can be from 5m to 20m and in large warehouses there is often the need to set up extra Wi-Fi points either inside the building or find a way of connecting to nearby private or public Wi-Fi access points. At the same time, Wi-Fi points also need to make their unique identifier MAC address known to carry out the geolocation of tracking devices. Location accuracy is determined by the number of MAC addresses that a server obtains and if these are limited then accuracy of data will suffer.

To tackle this problem, LoRa Edge determines an asset’s location by using a global database of private and public Wi-Fi access points that have already been mapped. Visible MAC addresses are captured and sent to a cloud-based Wi-Fi look-up service and when this data is analysed it is possible to capture the precise location of an asset.

Total cost of ownership
Finally, LoRa Edge enables customers to control their total cost of ownership (TCO) because they only pay when they need an asset to be located. Businesses that need to know the location of assets several times per day pay Semtech via subscription but those who only need such information once a day, once a month or even once a year pay as required.

IoT solutions revolution for asset management
LoRa Edge has been designed to do nothing less than revolutionise the development of IoT-based solutions for asset management applications, simplifying the process in a way that satisfies customers’ demands for high levels of security while driving costs down. With a range of products planned for release throughout 2020 leading to an increased use of LoRa-based solutions in the IoT ecosystem, logistics managers will be able to take full advantage of the technology and manage their assets in a way that has never been possible before.

Demand for online grocery has reached unprecedented heights due to COVID-19 as people everywhere adhere to social distancing and shelter-in-place directives, with e-grocery site visits up 146% from just February to March 2020. In direct response, Dematic quickly developed a dedicated software update for a leading grocery customer, empowering them to continue addressing online demand surges while ensuring critical safety measures for its front-line workers.

The software update was developed by software engineers from Digital Applications International Limited (DAI) ― a UK-based company acquired by Dematic in February 2020 that specializes in logistics software solutions. It took the team only a day to create the update and less than three days to implement it across the grocer’s entire network.

“Dematic has always been focused on helping our customers respond quickly to critical business challenges ― it’s at the core of what we do,” said Hasan Dandashly, CEO, Dematic. “Now, given the coronavirus pandemic, it’s even more critical. Our customers’ employees are no longer simply order pickers, grocery retail workers and cashiers, but front-line workers. It is our duty as a business partner to provide creative solutions that make order fulfillment not just easier and faster but safer. This quick software update is the most recent example of how we take this role seriously with each project and with every customer.”

Here’s how the update works: When a picker is assigned an order, the software indicates the aisles that contain the items. This is standard. But now the software also indicates when aisles are already occupied so the picker can move quickly to an open aisle, which helps ensure proper social distances. In addition to employee safety, the update also improves efficiency with pickers no longer having to wait for aisles to clear.