In transportation, the Physical Internet refers to the combination of digital transportation networks that are deploying to replace actual road networks. The Physical Internet Initiative promoted research efforts around 2011. Since around 2018, the initiative site refers to a blog site promoting the marketing term big data. [1]
In logistics, the Physical Internet is an open global logistics system founded on physical, digital, and operational interconnectivity, through encapsulation, interfaces and protocols. [2] The Physical Internet is intended to replace current logistical models. [3] [4]
Benoit Montreuil organized a project called the Physical Internet Initiative at the Université Laval in Canada around 2011. [2] It applied concepts from internet data transfer to real-world shipping processes. [3] [5] A project had funding from the National Science Foundation as well as contributions from MHIA and CICMHE. [6]
The Internet does not transmit information: it transmits packets with embedded information. These packets are designed for ease of use in the Digital Internet. The information within a packet is encapsulated and is not dealt with by Internet. The packet header contains all information required for identifying the packet and routing it correct to destination. A packet is constructed for a specific transmission and it is dismantled once it has reached its destination. The Digital Internet is based on a protocol structuring data packets independently from equipment. In this way, data packets can be processed by different systems and through various networks: modems, copper wires, fiber optic wires, routers, etc.; local area networks, wide area networks, etc.; Intranets, Extranets, Virtual Private Networks, etc. [7]
The Physical Internet does not manipulate physical goods directly, whether they are materials, parts, merchandises or yet products. It manipulates exclusively containers that are explicitly designed for the Physical Internet and that encapsulate physical goods within them. [7]
The vision of the Physical Internet involves encapsulating goods in smart, ecofriendly and modular containers ranging from the size of a maritime container to the size of a small box. It thus generalizes the maritime container that succeeded to support globalization and shaped ships and ports, and extends containerization to logistics services in general. The Physical Internet moves the border of the private space to be inside of the container instead of the warehouse or the truck. These modular containers will be continuously monitored and routed, exploiting their digital interconnection through the Internet of Things.
The Physical Internet encapsulates physical objects in physical packets or containers, hereafter termed π-containers so as to differentiate them from current containers. These π-containers are world-standard, smart, green and modular containers. They are notably modularized and standardized worldwide in terms of dimensions, functions and fixtures. [7]
The π-containers are key elements enabling the interoperability necessary for the adequate functioning of the Physical Internet. They must be designed to facilitate their handling and storage in the physical nodes of the Physical Internet, as well as their transport between these nodes and of course to protect goods. They act as packets in the digital Internet. They have an information part analogous to the header in the digital Internet. The π-containers encapsulate their content, making the contents irrelevant to the Physical Internet. [8]
From a physical perspective, π-containers must be easy to handle, store, transport, seal, snap to a structure, interlock, load, unload, build and dismantle.
From an informational perspective, each π-container has a unique worldwide identifier, such as the MAC address in the Ethernet network and the digital Internet. This identifier is attached to each π-container both physically and digitally for ensuring identification robustness and efficiency. A smart tag is attached to each π-container to act as its representing agent. It contributes to ensuring π-container identification, integrity, routing, conditioning, monitoring, traceability and security through the Physical Internet. Such smart tagging enables the distributed automation of a wide variety of handling, storage and routing operations. In order to deal adequately with privacy and competitiveness concerns within the Physical Internet, the smart tag of a π-container strictly restricts information access by pertinent parties. Only the information necessary for the routing of π-containers through the Physical Internet are accessible for everyone. [8]
A number of academic research projects were funded using this term.
The European Commission funded a project called Modular Logistics Units in Shared Co-modal Networks (Modulushca) from 1 October 2012 to 31 January 2016. [9] Modulushca studied interconnected logistics at the European level, in coordination with North American partners and the international Physical Internet Initiative. The project studied interconnected logistics based on containerization for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chains. [10]
A European Union project called New ICT infrastructure and reference architecture to support Operations in future PI Logistics NETworks (ICONET) explored PI network services that optimise cargo flows against throughput, cost and environmental performance. [11]
ICONET's main research focus was collaborative planning of flexible logistic chains, by applying some popular computer network concepts of the time. ICONET was funded by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency in Brussels from 1 September 2018 to 28 February 2021. [11]
Establishing the logistics system gain efficiency of the Physical Internet was the focus of a research project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and conducted in the Center for Excellence in Logistics and Distribution (CELDi). The first phase report was published in 2012. [12]
The Fast Track to the Physical Internet (Atropine) project promised to demonstrate a Physical Internet region in Upper Austria. The project is managed by the Logistikum of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria from December 2015 to May 2018. It was funded by the Upper Austrian government program 'Innovatives Oberösterreich 2020'. [13] Another research project in Austria was called Go2PI. [14]
The Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe (ALICE) supported some projects from 2018 to 2020. [15]
The aim of the publicly funded project is to develop a standardized interface for vehicle as edge devices that implements the concepts of the GAIA-X initiative and the dynamic reconfiguration of vehicles with the example of the Road-Based Physical Internet (RBPI). [16] The necessary measures to be carried out on vehicles for this purpose mean that the RBPI can be expected to be partially implemented by 2023. [17]
Also car manufacturer do research on the road-based Physical Internet. [18] OEM, in particular Mercedes-Benz, work on architectures to integrate vehicles as edge devices into the Physical Internet ecosystem. [19] The aim here is to create a cross-manufacturer standard to optimize the utilization of vehicle cargo spaces. The ecosystem of cloud storage, vehicles and freight components is called the Road-Based Physical Internet (RBPI). [20]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers. Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of unitization of cargoes in exports. Containerization is the predominant form of unitization of export cargoes, as opposed to other systems such as the barge system or palletization. The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, and semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The handling system is mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked using computerized systems.
Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption according to the needs of customers. Logistics management is a component that holds the supply chain together. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items.
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchester and Duluth; these access the sea via rivers or canals. Because of their roles as ports of entry for immigrants as well as soldiers in wartime, many port cities have experienced dramatic multi-ethnic and multicultural changes throughout their histories.
An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply ”container”) is a large standardized container designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – such as from ships to trains to trucks – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. It is like a boxcar that does not have wheels. Based on size alone, up to 95% of intermodal containers comply with ISO standards, and can officially be called ISO containers. These containers are known by many names: cargo container, sea container, ocean container, container van or sea van, sea can or C can, or MILVAN, or SEAVAN. The term CONEX (Box) is a technically incorrect carry-over usage of the name of an important predecessor of the ISO containers: the much smaller steel CONEX boxes used by the U.S. Army.
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory of the United Kingdom. It sets and maintains physical standards for British industry.
In transportation, freight refers to goods conveyed by land, water or air, while cargo refers specifically to freight when conveyed via water or air. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in case of goods in the cold-chain, because the perishable inventory is always in transit towards a final end-use, even when it is held in cold storage or other similar climate-controlled facilities, including warehouses.
Donald Watts Davies, was a Welsh computer scientist who was employed at the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL).
The CYCLADES computer network was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate internetworking.
Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
Johor Port is a port in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia, built in 1977. It is an integrated multi-purpose port facility providing bulk cargo, container and general cargo services. It is the world's largest palm oil terminal and ranks third globally in terms of LME cargo volume.
The AMPRNet or Network 44 is used in amateur radio for packet radio and digital communications between computer networks managed by amateur radio operators. Like other amateur radio frequency allocations, an IP range of 44.0.0.0/8 was provided in 1981 for Amateur Radio Digital Communications and self-administered by radio amateurs. In 2001, undocumented and dual-use of 44.0.0.0/8 as a network telescope began, recording the spread of the Code Red II worm in July 2001. In mid-2019, part of IPv4 range was sold off for conventional use, due to IPv4 address exhaustion.
A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. Computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections are made up of telecommunication network technologies based on physically wired, optical, and wireless radio-frequency methods that may be arranged in a variety of network topologies.
Packet Clearing House (PCH) is the international nonprofit organization responsible for providing operational support and security to critical Internet infrastructure, including Internet exchange points and the core of the Domain Name System. The organization also works in the areas of cybersecurity coordination, regulatory policy and Internet governance.
APM Terminals is a port operating company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. A unit of Danish shipping company Maersk's Transport and Logistics division, it manages container terminals and provides integrated cargo and inland services. It operates 74 port and terminal facilities in 38 countries on five continents, with five new port projects in development, in addition to over 100 inland services operations providing container transportation, management, maintenance and repair in 38 countries, for an overall global presence of 58 countries. In 2018, APM Terminals was ranked the world's fifth largest container terminal operator.
MPEG media transport (MMT), specified as ISO/IEC 23008-1, is a digital container standard developed by Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) that supports High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) video. MMT was designed to transfer data using the all-Internet Protocol (All-IP) network.
"Fourth Industrial Revolution", "4IR", or "Industry 4.0" is a buzzword and neologism describing rapid technological advancement in the 21st century. The term was popularised in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman, who says that the changes show a significant shift in industrial capitalism.
A smart port equips the workforce with relevant skills and technology to solve the unique internal and external challenges of the organisation, and to facilitate the efficient movement of goods, delivery of services and smooth flow of information.
Crowdshipping, sometimes referred to as crowd logistics, applies the concept of crowdsourcing to the personalized delivery of freight. Crowdshipping can be conceived as an example of people using social networking to behave collaboratively and share services and assets for the greater good of the community, as well as for their own personal benefit.
The freight technology sector, also known as FreightTech, refers to software companies and technologies which assist in supply chain management and the movement of freight. In the five years following 2014, investment in FreightTech companies grew from $118 million to $3 billion per year.
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