Blumenbecker's Tracking System and Load Sensors Offer Greater Efficiency on the Apron
Countless aircraft take off and land at the airport every day. However, the significantly larger amount of airport equipment is not in the air, but on the ground. Aircraft must be loaded and unloaded quickly, efficiently and smoothly, because only an aircraft in the air is economical. Every minute counts on the ground.
Blumenbecker airport ground support equipment has been in use all over the world for more than 30 years. The company says high quality and robustness lead to a long service life, as its customers confirm. With its own production facilities in Germany, Blumenbecker develops and manufactures a wide variety of dollies, luggage trolleys and passenger stairs.
"We set special standards with our unique range of services, for example with our own maintenance stations at airports," the company states. "With the latest development and now series production of an innovative tracking system, Blumenbecker turns airport ground support equipment into intelligent ground support equipment."
Where is the next unloaded dolly? Dolly 2317 needs an accident prevention inspection - but where is it on the huge airport apron? Until now, searching for and finding the non-motorized GSE has been laborious and time-consuming. It's not easy to keep track of everything.
Blumenbecker has developed a unique tracking system that does more than just locate objects. Supplemented by a load sensor, the system recognizes whether there is a freight or luggage container on the freight trailer. The system also records other information such as temperature, battery status, speed, etc. Customers can configure their individual tracking system according to their needs and have it displayed via the Blumenbecker dashboard. The system can provide the data for external fleet management systems via an API interface.
By combining the information about the location and loading status, the departments and service providers responsible for handling are able to locate each individual GSE unit on the apron and assign appropriate actions. This gives them complete control over the degree of utilization of each unit, enabling them to use their fleet more efficiently and thus reduce costs and the number of dollies, etc.
The innovative tracking unit is called BB Smart Track and is 6.9 cm wide and 12 cm long with a height of only 2.3 cm. Thanks to continuous solar charging, an optimized battery and cyclical data transmission, the tracking unit works very efficiently.
It is an NB-IoT/LTE 4G Cat M1 modem (2.4 GHz) with integrated GNSS and motion sensor. A 6x6 cm solar panel with a 5 Ah rechargeable battery has been installed. If required, LEDs can be used to activate specific user signaling such as near-field detection. The firmware specifications include over-the-air update, remote configuration of all parameters, REST interface for data upload and data storage in offline mode.
Thanks to these functions, the customer can retrieve the data and locations of the airport ground support equipment digitally within a very short time. Ideally, the tracking unit is attached to the front of the dolly or baggage cart, directly behind the drawbar. This is the control center. The position detection and data processing are located in this small box.
Continuous recharging using solar energy is also integrated into this transmitter and receiver unit.
“Our tracking module is completely maintenance-free - IP 68 - and eliminates the need for routine battery replacement. This saves on personnel resources and supports the goals of
ecological sustainability,” explains Ralf Herzog, managing director of Blumenbecker Technik GmbH in Schafstädt.
BB Smart Track can be installed in different variants, and a vandal-proof version is also available. A special housing and Plexiglas cover protect the module against external damage caused by containers, luggage or bad weather conditions.
Blumenbecker provides the customer with the data backend, which includes the current status of the unit, position and sensor data, API interface and access management. In relation to the admin backend, the customer receives firmware updates over-the-air, preset configurations that can be modified to meet customer-specific requirements, as well as SIM/data management.
By using Blumenbecker's special contactless loading sensor technology, loading and unloading can be reliably detected in addition to determining the location of the dollies. Defect or intact information can also be transmitted via an app. These functions are particularly important for quickly making unloaded dollies available to the airport apron team.
If the customer opts for the load sensor, it is quickly and easily installed in the deck between the idlers. It detects without contact (inductively) whether the dolly is loaded with a container or a freight pallet or not. The sensor transmits this information to the BB Smart Track 'control center' via Bluetooth. Every change of position or load is immediately transmitted to the corresponding database via mobile radio technology. This gives the user a real picture of what is currently happening on the airport apron with all movement scenarios and availability of the GSE units. Additional sensors are optionally available.
In recent months, extensive test simulations have been carried out at many airports with very good results. BB Smart Track is now in series production.
“Blumenbecker is therefore the only GSE supplier to offer its own tracking unit including load sensors on the market. Blumenbecker's aim with BB Smart Track was and is to offer a technology that localizes non-motorized GSE and reliably detects the equally important loading/unloading. Data exchange at short intervals is ensured by solarbased energy generation,” says Herzog.
Every minute counts on the airport apron, every aircraft standstill costs a lot of money, and increasing the efficiency of cargo and baggage handling is a top priority. With BB Smart Track, Blumenbecker has created an affordable tracking unit - smart, small and simple.
