Keeping Track & Trace: High-tech tools bring supply-chain transparency

On the edge

With the recent growth of IoT strategies, some companies figure that, with so many devices hitching rides on ULDs and pallets, they might as well do some data crunching.

In a nutshell, that’s the strategy of supply chain analytics firm Greenwave. The company is a proponent of “edge analytics,” which empowers IoT sensors to not only collect tracking information, but perform some analysis as soon as the data is captured – out on the “edge” of the IoT network, as it were.

“The push is to try to get the edge as close to the data source as possible,” said John Crupi, vice president of IoT edge analytics for Greenwave. “The sensors we use can get down to very, very small costs, so you start getting this massive amount of data very cheaply, collected and analyzed right at the point of where the data is coming from.”

The reason why Greenwave chose the edge method was based on the initial frenzy for cloud computing. “We built this system a few years ago, but the cloud isn’t really designed for real-time analysis and analytics at that scale, unless you’re a Google or an Amazon,” Crupi explained. “But also it started not making a lot of sense as the chips started getting more powerful and cheaper at the edge. If you have a million or more devices, then imagine how much processing you can do if you just catch it right on the way in.”

Crupi had planned to use RFID, but discovered that cheap but “smart” wi-fi-connected sensors can create a “completely distributed” network of data gatherers at a fraction of the cost. “One of the hard things about this and any IOT system is that it can’t be just one company.” he said. “Even the big guys, like Microsoft and Amazon, are realizing they have to get closer to the edge.”