BARTEC System 3003

On a contract awarded by BARTEC GmbH, Bad Mergentheim, emlix GmbH has developed essential parts of a highly integrated logistics system for the road transport of liquid goods. An adapted embedded Linux system with a component-based application can be integrated into existing enterprise environments and adapted for various fields of application.

The flexibility and power of this System 3003 has become evident through a system for optimizing the logistics of milk collection from large farms that has recently been put into operation. This system consists of two hardware units: the in-cabin subsystem (ICS) for driver guidance and the metering and sampling subsystem (MSS). These subsystems are connected to each other via Ethernet. The scheduling and dispatch solution in the office automatically arranges tours for the individual tanker trucks, calculates optimal routes, wakes up the ICS units and transfers the shift and route data in XML files via MQTT protocol.

The driver is shown a map of the precalculated route using a Java application. The ICS unit automatically supervises the adherence to the planned route via GPS receiver and periodically communicates the GPS position to the enterprise system.

Using GPS, the tanker also recognizes when it has arrived at a planned collection point. When the tanker has stopped, the ICS unit displays on the screen the kind of product and the amount to be collected and reports this to the MSS unit.

During the tour, the dispatcher in the office can transmit a modified route and altered data to the tanker. The driver is automatically notified of the changes. All the processes carried out are recorded and reported to the enterprise system (ERP) via MQTT. The ICS is equipped with a second communication channel, which is used for spoken communication and as an emergency data channel in case of insufficient GPRS coverage.

A tanker activity monitoring system (TAMS) operates in the background. It is integrated into the ICS unit and has access to the CAN bus of the vehicle. From there, it filters data about vehicle condition and the driving behaviour of the driver, which is then processed and reported to the TAMS enterprise server. Maintenance of the vehicles can thus be planned in time. If the tanker is involved in an accident, a distress signal is transmitted, as well as a log of vital TAMS data in high temporal resolution.

System 3003 fulfils all the essential DIN standards and has a wide operating temperature range from -20 to +60 °C. With regard to hardware, the GPRS modem, the graphics card with SM501 for the control of a touchscreen TFT display (max. 640 x 480 pixels), various interfaces and intelligent power management are particularly worth mentioning.

The software core of System 3003 is an embedded framework for cooperative multitasking. It dynamically loads the software modules of the application, which communicate with each other without restrictions. The framework allows multiple instances on different computers to be interconnected transparently via TCP/IP, thus creating the impression of a single large system. The software is particularly notable for its remote software version management/deployment, the human-machine interface with screen layout specification via XML, location awareness and map display, online updating of the route, progress report via GPRS and a fallback communication channel, as well for the RFID-based identification of the trailer and of farm/factory connection points.