AI-powered logistics: smart yard management with a real-time container locator

How can AI enhance logistics? Robovision joined forces with Peripass, provider of yard management solutions, to build a realtime AI-based tracking system that localises trailers anywhere in a yard, with an accuracy that beats GPS coordinates. A pilot project was developed for H.Essers, the leading logistics service provider in Europe.

The Digital Twin in Logistics

Logistic sites are like beehives with lots of in- and outbound flows. In such an environment, mistakes are inevitable. And they are costly, for a truck could very well be 1000 kilometres down south before anyone notices it’s carrying the wrong trailer.

Thanks to vision learning and the latest generation of smart cameras, we built Real-time Trailer Location Services to localise trucks anywhere in a yard, day and night. Pioneering a project for H.Essers in Genk, Belgium, we trace vehicles, evaluate movements, identify inefficiencies and optimise (un)loading times with AI that’s 97% accurate.

Challenges in Yard Management

Yard management is a complex matter—and that’s exactly why we like it. First of all, it’s not a controlled environment. Weather and light conditions are ever-changing, yet fleet managers need to know which truck is where 24/7. 

To tackle this issue, we collect samples of all possible variations of rain or shine, night and day. Next, we use data augmentation to simulate even more possible conditions, from sleet over a low winter sun to mist. 

Another issue is the similarity of trucks and trailers. Based on spatial and temporal information, we determine which trailer is where at a particular time. Compiling that data with a trailer’s features, we have robust information about its location and can track its every move on the yard, as well as that of hundreds of other, almost identical trailers.

360° view with multiple cameras

Seeing everything, of course, is hard. Because of weather conditions, because of the sheer number of trailers in a yard, but also because seen from ground level, one trailer can hide another. That’s why we set up multiple cameras overhead, creating a 360° view of the whole yard, and train our AI to track roofs, as they are always in sight. Combining all of these features, we can pinpoint a trailer anywhere on the yard with a 1-metre accuracy—a result that by far beats GPS coordinates.

Integrating AI in yard management application

Building a detection system with such a low margin for error is always teamwork. We rely on the specific experience of our partners in the particularities of yard management on the one hand, and smart cameras on the other. At H.Essers, AeyeQ mounted their Augur Vehicle, a powerful Edge camera that collects and processes visual data, which we use as a basis for deep learning.

Next, on-site operators, dispatchers and logistics managers use their knowledge to label the data through our tool, using bounding polygons. This, in turn, connects to Peripass’ yard management application and creates a real-time twin of the yard.

Detecting incidents in realtime

Together, we built a tool that acts as an extra pair of eyes in the sky and detects incidents as they occur, from a truck docking in the wrong place to a truck picking up the wrong trailer. We can even track the number of rented trailers parked on-site to avoid rent fees from accumulating. On a yard the size of 25 football fields, there’s no chance humans could match our feat.