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Topic Name: Routing Agents at the Nodes of an Automatic Baggage Conveyor System for Hub Airport
Category: Bulk Cargo
Research persons: Prof. Michael ten Hompel
Location: Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Dortmund, Germany
Details
Baggage conveyor systems at airports often carry up to 10,000
items of baggage per hour. Nevertheless, the cases have to be loaded onto the
right airliner at the right time. Intelligent ‘routing agents’ steer the baggage
without the need for complex computer systems.
Hustle and bustle at a major hub airport. The baggage from a delayed aircraft
needs to be conveyed immediately to the right reclaim points. Thousands of
passengers are checking in at the airline desks at the same time, while aircraft
are taking off and landing every minute. To prevent chaos from breaking out,
everything has to slot together neatly. It is all taken care of by experienced
ground personnel, aided by reliable and intelligent information and material
flow technology.
In collaboration with the Chair of
Material Handling and Warehousing (FLW) at the University of Dortmund, the
Fraunhofer
Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Dortmund has placed
‘routing agents’ at the nodes of an automatic baggage conveyor system for hub
airports. These agents make on-the-spot decisions as to which way the baggage
should be routed – a decisive step towards the ‘Internet of Things’. In the
‘Internet of Things’, packages, baggage items and pallets all have their own
embedded intelligence: They communicate with one another and with the control
units of the transport network, and automatically request the necessary
resources.
Communication between the agents is one of the focal points of research in the
BMBF-funded project. In this
particular case, some 2000 routing agents were deployed in a network. “We had to
find a way of ensuring the reliable transmission of messages between the agents
at peak load times,” says IML project manager Andreas Trautmann. The baggage
conveyor system that was investigated comprises more than 12,000 conveyor
elements with 1200 branches. These are supplemented by several stations for
security checks and for manual encoding of baggage items that cannot be
automatically identified. Agent-based control has various advantages: there is
no need for a central management system with complex control logic and elaborate
data processing in order to ensure the material flow. A deliberately simple
program code ensures unimpeded flow at the crucial points of the baggage
conveyor system. If the number of baggage items increases, the agents seek
alternative routes and redirect the flow of baggage. “The experiment shows that
the concept of the ‘Internet of Things’ is capable of assuring the logistical
function of a large-scale agent-controlled conveyor system even through simple
agents,” stresses Institute director Prof. Michael ten Hompel. Now, in their
further research work, the scientists will press ahead with the use of
multi-agent systems. Trautmann is certain: “Enhanced agent functions will enable
us to outperform traditional control systems.”
Note for Baggage Handling System
A Baggage Handling System (BHS) is a type of conveyor system installed in
airports that transports checked luggage from ticket counters to areas where the
bags can be loaded onto airplanes. A BHS also transports checked baggage coming
off of airplanes to baggage claims or to an area where the bag can be loaded
onto another airplane.
Although a BHS's primary function is the transportation of bags, a typical BHS
will serve many other complex functions involved in making sure that a bag gets
to the correct location in the airport. The process of identifying a bag, and
the information associated with it, to make a decision on where the bag should
be directed within the system is known as sortation.
In addition to sortation, a BHS typically also performs the following functions:
Detection of Bag Jams
Volume Regulation (to ensure that input points are controlled to avoid
overloading system)
Load Balancing (to evenly distribute bag volume between conveyor sub-systems)
Bag Counting
Bag Tracking
Redirection of Bags via Pusher or Diverter
Merging of Conveyor Lines
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