Towards agile and flexible air cargo processes with localization based on RFID and complex event processing

How can one transfer the concept of a real-time enterprise to the air cargo business? What are the challenges from a technological and information technology point of view? In this article the processes of an airfreight hub are analyzed under the aspects of flexibility, quality and transparency, in order to demonstrate the economic potential of a real-time locating system (RTLS) implementation at a cargo hub. Following this, concrete industrial applications are developed by using the idea of an event-driven architecture (EDA) and complex event processing (CEP) methods which enable immediate reactions to critical business transactions. This includes the development of CEP logics for airfreight processes using the CEP language Esper. In addition, first test results are presented by applying data from an RTLS of an industrial partner.