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Smart Logistics Based On The Internet of Things Technology

The document discusses smart logistics based on internet of things (IoT) technology, providing an overview of recent research and applications. It defines smart logistics and outlines key technologies like IoT, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). A bibliometric analysis of publications from 2008-2019 reveals the main impacts and technologies of IoT-based smart logistics applications.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
249 views24 pages

Smart Logistics Based On The Internet of Things Technology

The document discusses smart logistics based on internet of things (IoT) technology, providing an overview of recent research and applications. It defines smart logistics and outlines key technologies like IoT, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). A bibliometric analysis of publications from 2008-2019 reveals the main impacts and technologies of IoT-based smart logistics applications.

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sarita61
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© © All Rights Reserved
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International Journal of Logistics Research and

Applications
A Leading Journal of Supply Chain Management

ISSN: 1367-5567 (Print) 1469-848X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjol20

Smart logistics based on the internet of things


technology: an overview

Yangke Ding, Mingzhou Jin, Sen Li & Dingzhong Feng

To cite this article: Yangke Ding, Mingzhou Jin, Sen Li & Dingzhong Feng (2020): Smart logistics
based on the internet of things technology: an overview, International Journal of Logistics Research
and Applications, DOI: 10.1080/13675567.2020.1757053

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2020.1757053

Published online: 24 Apr 2020.

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https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjol20
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS: RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS
https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2020.1757053

Smart logistics based on the internet of things technology: an


overview
a b
Yangke Ding , Mingzhou Jin , Sen Lia and Dingzhong Fenga
a
College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China;
b
Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, United States

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY


Smart logistics is an effective way to meet the challenges of fast-changing Received 6 October 2019
customer expectations, take opportunities brought by new technologies, Accepted 10 April 2020
and facilitate new business models. This review paper systematically
KEYWORDS
summarises the recent research and applications of smart logistics based Smart logistics; internet of
on the internet of things (IoT), including smart freight transportation, things (IoT); cloud
warehousing, and delivery. A bibliometric analysis based on publications computing; big data; artificial
between 2008 and 2019 reveals main technologies and impacts of the intelligence (AI)
research and applications of IoT-based smart logistics and their industrial
and geographic distributions. The content analysis demonstrates the
role and impact of IoT on smart logistics, reveals challenges of IoT-based
smart logistics, and provides research needs for the development of
smart logistics. The current challenges include technical problems of
radio frequency identification and wireless sensor networks, limited
extension and technical capacity of IoT,standardisation issues of IoT,
data acquisition and processing issues of IoT, and security and privacy
concerns on IoT. There is a strong research need to address the key
technical issues of IoT, promote various IoT technologies in logistics
practice, and jointly develop advanced information and communications
technologies and management systems.

1. Introduction
New technology, new market entrants, new business models, and new customer expectations cur-
rently cause the logistics industry to face immense change, which brings both risk and opportunity
(PwC 2016). New technologies, like the internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, big data, and
blockchain, greatly streamline the logistics process and improve its efficiency. New entrants take
market share from the incumbents through new business models based on new technologies. For
example, Uber Freight (https://www.uberfreight.com) connects carriers with the most appropriate
shipments available and builds an on-demand logistics network with its app and platform, which
has negatively impacted the American freight industry. Customers expect to obtain goods faster
and safer as well as with more flexibility at low or no delivery cost. The above new things increase
efficiency and customer satisfaction but produce fiercer competition. Some logistics companies may
go out of business if they fail to develop current logistics systems (Akgul 2019). To build smart logis-
tics based on new technologies is an effective solution to keep up with the new things.
The definition of smart logistics is widely divergent and there are no unanimous conclusions so
far. However, smart logistics usually refers to different logistics operations, like transportation, ware-
housing, and customer service, which are planned, managed, and controlled in a more intelligent

CONTACT Dingzhong Feng [email protected]


© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 Y. DING ET AL.

way than conventional solutions. The type and level of intelligence vary across applications and
focuses. Autonomous logistics (Windt and Hülsmann 2007), intelligent transportation system
(ITS) (European Commission 2019), the Physical Internet (PI, π) (Montreuil, Meller, and Ballot
2013), smart freight (Sternberg et al. 2010), and customer-oriented intelligent logistics (Mcfarlane,
Giannikas, and Lu 2016) are typical types of smart logistics. They are summarised in Table 1.
As shown in Table 1, although smart logistics has various types due to their respective priorities,
they all depend on the application of ICTs. We here offer a new working definition of smart logistics,
which is based on state-of-the-art technologies and advanced management and focuses on the flow
of goods. The logistics components that reflect the flow of goods mainly include freight transpor-
tation, warehousing, and delivery. The concept map of smart logistics is illustrated in Figure 1.
As shown in Figure 1, the logistics processes, i.e. freight transportation, warehousing, and deliv-
ery, in smart logistics can become information sharing, rapid response, and resource integration
through the collaborative application of IoT, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence
(AI) as well as advanced management. The collaborative development makes smart logistics a col-
laborative and integrated system. It also makes logistics operations more intelligent than the tra-
ditional way. In conclusion, smart logistics makes the logistics system collaborative, intelligent,
and integrated and achieves information sharing, rapid response, and resource integration in the
logistics process by the adoption of advanced ICTs and management; from the perspective of cus-
tomers, smart logistics provides more efficient, flexible, accurate, and safer logistics services.
The key to developing smart logistics is to effectively take advantage of state-of-the-art technol-
ogies. Among them, IoT technology has been most widely applied in the logistics system (Chow et al.
2006; Xiao et al. 2016; Sharma et al. 2018). IoT is an information and communication technology
based on the internet (Ashton 2009; Weber and Weber 2010; Feng et al. 2012). It applies a variety
of information sensing technologies, such as RFID, wireless sensor network (WSN), and machine to
machine (M2M), and adopts the embedded system as well as combines network communication
technology to achieve data communication, exchange, and control with unique identifiers among
objects. IoT is committed to extending from the virtual internet to the physical world (Uckelmann,
Harrison, and Michahelles 2011), and its mainstay of development is self-identification, information

Table 1. Smart logistics types.


Types Descriptions Priorities
Autonomous logistics Autonomous logistics refers to the autonomous cooperation and The decentralised decision-making
control of logistics processes and relies on IoT technology, such of logistic objects
as radio frequency identification (RFID), and embedded
systems to make decentralised decision-making (Windt and
Hülsmann 2007).
Intelligent ITS is used to make transportation safer, more efficient and more The transportation and traffic
transportation sustainable by applying various information and management
systems communications technologies (ICTs) to all modes of passenger
and freight transportation (European Commission 2019).
The PI The PI is an open global logistics system founded on physical, The interconnectivity of containers
digital and operational interconnectivity through for encapsulating goods
encapsulation, interfaces, and protocols (Montreuil, Meller, and
Ballot 2013). The multiple-layered interconnectivity, ultimately
anywhere and anytime, leads to a new era of hyperconnected
logistics, supply chains, and transportation (Crainic and
Montreuil 2016).
Smart freight Smart freight integrates transportation management and state- The application of ICT to freight
of-the-art technologies for freight tracking and vehicle transportation systems
monitoring, which enables the improved management and
accountability of freight transportation (Sternberg et al. 2010).
Customer-oriented Customer-oriented intelligent logistics aims to achieve greater Customer-oriented logistics
intelligent logistics customer orientation from the perspective of closeness, operations
flexibility, and accessibility in inventory management,
transportation system, and order management (Mcfarlane,
Giannikas, and Lu 2016).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 3

Figure 1. Concept map of smart logistics.

transfer, and interactive processing among objects (Miorandi et al. 2012). IoT applications enable
M2M and human-to-machine interactions (Atzori, Iera, and Morabito 2010). The technology
aspects of IoT have been well-reviewed and interested readers can refer to Miorandi et al. (2012),
Mishra et al. (2016), Ng and Wakenshaw (2017), Whitmore, Agarwal, and Li (2015), and Li, Wu,
and Li (2014).
Although IoT technology has been widely used to support smart logistics, especially in freight
transportation, warehousing, and delivery, to the best of our knowledge, few works systematically
and extensively describe the research and applications of IoT-based smart logistics in the literature.
The recent related literature has focused either on a subset of IoT technologies or on vague descrip-
tions of logistics. Musa and Dabo (2016) reviewed the applications of RFID in supply chain manage-
ment from 2000 to 2015. Naskar, Basu, and Sen (2020) also reviewed the applications of RFID in the
domain of supply chain management. Bendaya, Hassini, and Bahroun (2019) explored the impact of
IoT on supply chain management which partially involves logistics. To bridge this gap, we review
and analyze the research and applications of IoT technology in freight transportation, warehousing,
and delivery.
The contributions of this paper to literature are in three parts. First, we present a new definition of
smart logistics, which will be used for the remainder of this paper. Second, the research and appli-
cations of IoT in logistics are reviewed and summarised, which demonstrates the role and impact of
IoT on smart logistics. Last, we point out challenges of smart logistics based on IoT and provide
research needs for the development of smart logistics.
The rest of this paper is organised as follows. Review methodology and bibliometric analysis are
presented in Section 2. In Section 3, the research and applications of IoT in freight transportation,
warehousing, and delivery are reviewed and analyzed. The challenges of IoT-based smart logistics are
pointed out in Section 4. In Section 5, the research needs for developing smart logistics are presented.
Section 6 concludes this paper. A list of acronyms and terms is shown in the Appendix.

2. Review methodology and bibliometric analysis


2.1. Review methodology
There are many works on smart logistics based on IoT in the literature. 1130 citations were returned
from a Web of Science Core Collection search for ‘smart or intelligent logistics based on IoT’. We
4 Y. DING ET AL.

need to modify and refine the search to exactly accord with our review topic. The principles of the
search are limited to the following points:

. Focus on articles from high-quality journals. We only search for articles from the Science Citation
Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index in the Web of Science Core Collection (http://
www.webofknowledge.com/wos). Conference papers, book chapters, and review papers are
excluded.
. Focus on the time when IoT began to be popular. We searched for articles in the last 12 years
(2008–2019). The Internet Business Solutions Group of Cisco estimated that IoT was ‘born’
(became popular) sometime between 2008 and 2009 (Evans 2011).
. Focus on freight transportation, warehousing, and delivery in the logistics industry. We combined
the search for ‘freight transportation, warehousing, and delivery’ with ‘logistics’.
. Do not omit keywords about IoT. IoT technology is a broad concept, we do not retrieve articles
with just ‘the Internet of Things’ or ‘IoT’. We extended the keywords of IoT to smart things, RFID,
intelligent sensing, wireless sensors and actuators, WSNs, M2M, Near Field Communication
(NFC), Z-Wave, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), low energy wireless communications, and ZigBee.

After refining, there were 22 articles returned correlating to freight transportation, 63 articles to
warehousing, and 54 articles to delivery. We removed some of the articles and added some other
qualified papers through their references, according to the relevance to our review topic. Finally,
we reviewed 16 articles on smart freight transportation, 29 articles on smart warehousing, and 25
articles on smart delivery, totalling 70 articles.

2.2. Bibliometric analysis


The bibliometric analysis offers statistics, including industrial applications of IoT-based smart logis-
tics, a list of keywords about technologies adopted and their effects, and distribution of countries or
regions or unions studied, as shown in Figures 2–4.
Figure 2 illustrates the major industrial applications. We can see that the industrial applications
are made up of the perishable food industry, agriculture, the chemical industry, E-commerce, the
pharmaceutical industry, the fishing industry, and the tobacco industry. The cold chain logistics,
from the perishable food industry, agriculture, and the fishing industry, is dominant and accounts
for 61% of studies. It is followed by the chemical industry which constitutes 17% of studies.
Goods from these industries focus on the safety and quality in the logistics process, which needs
more monitoring and control measures.
Figure 3 lists the most frequent keywords of technologies adopted and their effects. It can be seen
that IoT technology applied in logistics mainly consists of RFID, WSNs, and ZigBee. RFID makes
real-time logistics information traceable, which forms the basic function and feature of IoT-based
smart logistics. RFID also provides accurate indoor positioning to improve the efficiency of goods
management. WSNs are effective to guarantee safety for goods and trucks in condition monitoring.
Smart containers embedded with WSNs have wireless communication and sensing capabilities,
which measure and transmit the internal information with sealing. All the tracking, monitoring,
and alarm reporting achieved by them are automatic. Other technologies, including AI, like case-
based reasoning (CBR), and data mining-based context-aware, support the further development
of smart logistics. Ensuring the safety of logistics processes and the quality of goods is one of the
most remarkable research efforts of IoT-based smart logistics.
Figure 4 presents the distribution of major countries or regions or unions studied. It can be seen
that all of them are wealthy or strong in science and technology. The top four countries or regions or
unions are China, the EU, the U.S., and Hong Kong. Asia is the most interested in the research of
smart logistics, followed by Europe and North America. As the largest developing country, China
has a huge trade market, a complete industrial system, and a strong application of science and
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 5

Figure 2. Major industrial applications.

technology, which greatly promotes the research and application of smart logistics. Except for China,
the rest are highly developed countries or regions or unions, showing the lack of research and appli-
cation of smart logistics in the vast majority of developing countries.

3. IoT-based smart logistics


3.1. Smart freight transportation
Freight transportation is the physical flow of commodities and cargos by a ship, aircraft, train, or
motor vehicle. It is confronted with the waste of loading capacity, errors in loading tasks, low-
efficiency operations, and transportation security and goods safety (Hidalgo Fort et al. 2018; Liu
et al. 2019). Smart freight transportation based on IoT is a framework to incorporate ICTs to trans-
portation facilities and goods to alleviate such problems.
IoT technology makes freight transportation more efficient, convenient, and visualised. RFID is
widely applied in transportation and used to identify and track information of goods and vehicles.
Specifically, during transportation, RFID can collect and track the information of logistics resources
in loading and unloading of tasks (Liu et al. 2019), container location and freight information
(Zhang, Lu, and Wang 2014), and customer order data, like identity, volume, and types of stock
keeping units (SKUs) (Cheung et al. 2008). Such data is used for vehicle configuration optimisation
and path planning (Liu et al. 2019) and vehicle routing optimisation (Cheung et al. 2008). The Elec-
tronic Product Code (EPC) carried in the RFID tag includes product information and can track the
transportation process (Zhang et al. 2019). The RFID tags, which are embedded in containers (Lun
et al. 2008), trucks (Zacharewicz, Deschamps, and Francois 2011), and medical containers (Garcia
Zuazola et al. 2013), would be read along the way. Other auxiliary technologies, like the Global
6 Y. DING ET AL.

Figure 3. Statistics of keywords about technologies adopted and their effects.

Figure 4. Distribution of major countries or regions or unions studied.


INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 7

Positioning System (GPS) and a geographic information system (GIS), are usually combined with
RFID to provide navigation, route planning, and transportation process monitoring (Liu et al.
2019; Zacharewicz, Deschamps, and Francois 2011; Cheung et al. 2008). GPS is used to locate
and track a vehicle’s location in real-time; GIS provides a spatial distribution of roads and related
facilities, road conditions, and the optimal routing navigation services for drivers.
IoT technology, especially WSN, improves the monitoring and security level during transpor-
tation. Remote measurement of product core temperature with WSN is important to guarantee
food quality and reduce losses for perishable goods (Jedermann, Pötsch, and Lloyd 2014). That is
because the perishability of perishable goods is always related to the storage environment. Ambient
sensors are exploited to obtain temperature and respiratory (oxygen and carbon dioxide) data, which
monitor the goods storage environment during transportation (Zhang et al. 2019). The above moni-
toring achieves non-invasive measurement and acquisition with higher efficiency and greater secur-
ity. During the monitoring with WSN, RFID can be used to detect changes in load, identify drivers,
save WSN configuration, and maintain the desired environmental requirements (Santa et al. 2012).
As a result, goods can be tracked, traced, and monitored during transportation. It is worth mention-
ing that WSN for condition monitoring in railways improves the safety, security, and reliability of
railway freight transportation (Shrestha et al. 2013; Fraga-Lamas, Fernández-Caramés, and Castedo
2017; Hodge et al. 2015). WSNs can be used to monitor and assess the condition of railway infra-
structures such as tracks, track beds, bridges, and the equipment placed on the tracks. This condition
monitoring achieves real-time fault alerting of freight railcars.
In Table 2, we summarise and classify smart freight transportation based on IoT according to the
major mode of transportation. Noted that RFID and WSNs technologies are widely exploited in
road, waterway, and railway freight transportation. There are common impacts of IoT on these
three transportation modes, including real-time tracking, tracing, and monitoring of transportation
facilities and goods. The specific impacts of that on road freight transportation are to support vehicle
route optimisation and fleet management. Containers in waterway transportation are not convenient
to open for inspection. Fortunately, RFID can provide unique identifiers and electronic container
seals, and WSNs can conduct non-invasive monitoring and measurement. The impact of IoT on rail-
way freight transportation focuses on condition monitoring and alarm of various railway infrastruc-
ture. However, we cannot find studies that examine the strategic level impacts of IoT on freight
transportation, such as transportation network design and mode selection.

Table 2. Summary of smart freight transportation based on IoT.


Mode of
transportation Impact of IoT IoT technology Source
Road Real-time tracking, tracing, and RFID, EPC, WSNs, M2M, QR Zhang et al. (2019), Zacharewicz,
transportation monitoring of transportation codes, barcodes, 4G, ZigBee, Deschamps, and Francois (2011),
resources; improving the efficiency and other wireless Cheung et al. (2008), Qiu et al.
of transportation; optimising communication networks (2015), Santa et al. (2012), Garcia
vehicle configuration and route Zuazola et al. (2013)
planning; exchanging and sharing
traceability information; fleet
management and optimisation
Waterway Quality-oriented tracking, tracing, WSNs, RFID, GPRS/3G/4G, and Jedermann, Pötsch, and Lloyd
transportation and monitoring; information other wireless communication (2014), Zhang, Lu, and Wang
sharing; providing unique networks (2014), Harris, Wang, and Wang
identifiers and electronic container (2015), Lun et al. (2008), Hidalgo
seals Fort et al. (2018)
Railway Real-time identification, monitoring, WSNs, RFID, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and Shrestha et al. (2013), Fraga-Lamas,
transportation and fault alerting of railway other wireless communication Fernández-Caramés, and Castedo
facilities; the visibility of shipments networks (2017), Hodge et al. (2015),
in real-time; reducing human Rosova, Balog, and Simekova
inspection requirements and errors (2013)
in goods record
8 Y. DING ET AL.

3.2. Smart warehousing


Warehousing refers to activities of storage and order fulfilment, including receiving, storage allo-
cation, order picking, and truck loading. Efforts have been made to tackle the challenges arising
from the complexity and variety of customer orders, such as low operation efficiency, poor storage
space utilisation, misplaced stocks, and errors in inventory records (Lee et al. 2018; Lim, Bahr, and
Leung 2013; Poon et al. 2009). Smart warehousing under the IoT framework has made important
contributions to these efforts.
IoT technology connects objects with objects and operators with objects in a warehouse. Con-
nected items, like shelves, trolleys, products, and human operators, can be tracked and monitored
with WSN nodes embedding ambient sensors, providing decentralised decision support in a central
warehouse management system (WMS). The decentralised decision-making system can respond
quickly to emergencies, like forklift breakdowns and changes of order fulfilment. It decreases
decision-making delays and increases the efficiency of solving disruptions, which guarantees ware-
housing safety (Trab et al. 2017). The self-organisation behaviour and interconnection networks
between warehouse entities, like pallets, shelves, and trolleys, can be achieved with the association
of RFID, ambient intelligence, and a multi-agent system (Reaidy, Gunasekaran, and Spalanzani
2015). The decentralised warehousing management system is developed, which improves the reac-
tion capabilities of decision-making and reduces warehousing delays and costs.
RFID is often used to identify and track goods for inventory management (Kim, Yang, and Kim
2008; Wang, McIntosh, and Brain 2010; Garrido-Hidalgo et al. 2019) and indoor location (Dwiyasa
et al. 2017; Wen et al. 2018; Wu et al. 2019). It can also collect real-time warehouse data (Lam et al.
2015; Poon et al. 2009; Goudarzi, Malazi, and Ahmadi 2016). RFID Tags can be attached to SKUs,
pallets, and the warehouse floor (Lam et al. 2015; Jabbar et al. 2018; Ballestín et al. 2013; Giusti et al.
2019). Each of them contains goods-related data such as types of goods, quantities, locations of
goods, and storage conditions. RFID readers with antennas are mounted on warehouse entities,
like the main entrance, forklifts, storage racks, and shelves, to identify and exchange data from
RFID tags (Lam et al. 2015; Reaidy, Gunasekaran, and Spalanzani 2015; Zhou et al. 2017). These
intelligent entities would be integrated into an M2M network to communicate and share warehous-
ing information. The RFID-based real-time tracking technology gathers and updates inventory
information to make it accurate and visual (Kim, Yang, and Kim 2008; Lao et al. 2012; Biswal, Jena-
mani, and Kumar 2018; Giusti et al. 2019), which helps to streamline the inventory management
process, improve warehousing efficiency, and reduce human errors caused by manual data input.
The real-time data retrieval provided by RFID provides an effective location scheme for determining
exact locations of warehouse resources, like SKUs, forklifts, and shelves (Jayaraman, Ross, and Agar-
wal 2008; Poon et al. 2009; Yan et al. 2014), which allocates warehouse resources efficiently and
enhances the warehousing productivity effectively. RFID is also applied to collect real-time operation
conditions and locations of material handling equipment (MHE) to provide guidance for MHE and
improve order-picking efficiency (Wang, Chen, and Xie 2010; Poon et al. 2009; Ballestín et al. 2013).
WSN and other sensing technologies make the warehouse more secure and transparent. Ambient
sensors embedded in WSN nodes monitor and supervise the changes of environmental conditions,
like temperature, humidity, and brightness, in a warehouse (Zouinkhi, Mekki, and Abdelkrim 2014;
Lam et al. 2015; De Venuto and Mezzina 2018). The monitoring can be sent to the control centre
with alert messages. It has been well adopted in warehouses storing chemical products (Trab et al.
2017; Zouinkhi, Mekki, and Abdelkrim 2014) and perishable products (Zhang, Zhao, and Qian
2017; Vanderroost et al. 2017; De Venuto and Mezzina 2018). Ambient sensors can be mounted
on a shelf, trolley, product and even human operator and turned into communication objects,
which provide decentralised warehouse management to ensure high-level security for products
and workers (Trab et al. 2017; Reaidy, Gunasekaran, and Spalanzani 2015). Furthermore, sensors
attached to MHE can monitor and diagnose the equipment performance and function (Jabbar
et al. 2018).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 9

We summarise and classify the smart warehousing based on IoT according to the type of ware-
housing activities, as shown in Table 3. The activities comprise inbound (receiving and storage allo-
cation) and outbound (order picking and truck loading) activities. IoT technology not only connects
the warehouse recourses, like SKUs, pallets, shelves, and operators, to provide decentralised decision
support and then to streamline warehousing process, but also integrates inbound with outbound
activities through more accurate and visual warehouse data. IoT ensures inbound and outbound
security by monitoring warehouse entities and environments. However, IoT cannot effectively
solve the problem of storage allocation strategy selection and indoor routing optimisation.

3.3. Smart delivery


Delivery refers to delivering goods from a warehouse or distribution centre to the designated place
on time. It is necessary to have a faster, safer, and more accurate delivery service. However, there are
many problems, such as low operational efficiency (Cagliano, De Marco, and Rafele 2017), delivery
failure (Fu et al. 2015), cargo theft (Yang, Luo, and Lu 2015), and perishable products deterioration
(Shi, Zhang, and Qu 2010; Ruan and Shi 2016), in the current delivery system. Research is underway
to reduce the above problems with IoT-based smart delivery.
IoT technology has been used to track and monitor the delivery process and makes the delivery
information sharable and interactive. IoT technologies, like RFID, sensor technologies, and wireless
ad-hoc networking technologies, and embedded systems support the virtual transmission of infor-
mation and facilitate the information flow and sharing among delivery service providers (Yu et al.
2015). Shared or joint delivery is supported by the interconnection of physical logistics resources
through IoT, improving delivery efficiency and resource optimisation (Wang et al. 2019; He et al.
2019). Various smart sensors, RFID tags, and GPS devices are installed on delivery vehicles and con-
nected with servers and other user’s smart devices, which ensures that the sensing information is
communicated and shared (Sivamani, Kwak, and Cho 2014). In addition to delivery vehicles, a

Table 3. Summary of smart warehousing based on IoT.


Type of warehousing
activities Impact of IoT IoT technology Source
Inbound activities Providing decentralised decision RFID, EPC, WSN, M2M, ambient Trab et al. (2017), Zouinkhi, Mekki,
(including receiving support; streamlining the intelligence, ZigBee, BLE, and Abdelkrim (2014), Lam et al.
and storage inbound process; ensuring GPRS, and other wireless (2015), Jabbar et al. (2018), Kim,
allocation) inbound security; enhancing communication networks Yang, and Kim (2008), Lao et al.
storage operation efficiency; (2012), Giusti et al. (2019),
visualising the inbound process; Reaidy, Gunasekaran, and
increasing the utilisation of Spalanzani (2015), Wang,
warehouse capacity McIntosh, and Brain (2010),
Garrido-Hidalgo et al. (2019),
Wang, Chen, and Xie (2010),
Zhang, Zhao, and Qian (2017),
Ha et al. (2013), Zhou et al.
(2017), De Venuto and Mezzina
(2018), Vanderroost et al. (2017)
Outbound activities Providing decentralised decision RFID, EPC, WSN, M2M, ambient Trab et al. (2017), Zouinkhi, Mekki,
(including order support; streamlining the intelligence, ZigBee, and and Abdelkrim (2014), Lam et al.
picking and truck inbound process; ensuring other wireless (2015), Poon et al. (2009), Kim,
loading) outbound security; improving communication networks Yang, and Kim (2008), Wu et al.
order-picking efficiency and (2019), Giusti et al. (2019),
effectiveness; visualising the Reaidy, Gunasekaran, and
outbound process; solving Spalanzani (2015), Lee et al.
material handling problems; (2018), Alyahya, Wang, and
reducing manpower and Bennett (2016), Wang, Chen,
loading time and Xie (2010), Zhang, Zhao,
and Qian (2017), Zhou et al.
(2017)
10 Y. DING ET AL.

delivery man who carries a mobile terminal that integrates a GPS receiver and an active RFID tag can
be tracked with his real-time location both indoors and outdoors (Lin, Cheng, and Wang 2011).
Here, GPS provides the outdoor geographical coordinates, and RFID is used for indoor positioning.
The visibility of cargo and its storage environment, during delivery, can be achieved through cloud-
based GIS, GPS, and smart measurement devices connected with different sensors (Bogataj, Bogataj,
and Hudoklin 2017).
IoT technology contributes to ensure delivery reliability and reduce delivery failure. RFID is
always regarded as an identifying and tracking tool for the status of goods and vehicles to increase
delivery reliability, like correct orders and timely delivery. Losses of goods and wrong destinations
can be dramatically cut down with the introduction of RFID (Fu et al. 2015). Cargo theft can be
reduced significantly by using RFID multilayered grouping proof methods (Yang, Luo, and Lu
2015) or adopting accessible off-the-shelf mobile devices, RFID, and Geofence techniques (Oliveira
et al. 2015). Vehicle rescheduling during an accident can be supported by the integration of GPS,
RFID-based e-seals, and mobile network technologies (Ngai et al. 2012). Loss of goods during deliv-
ery can also be prevented by monitoring truck status with WSN. For example, the ambient light sen-
sor can provide events information, like loading and unloading, and detect an unauthorised opening
of truck doors (Ruiz-Garcia et al. 2010). Safe driving can be achieved by making use of sensor infor-
mation, like vehicle speed and engine speed, and drowsy driving can be detected with a wearable
sleepiness detection sensor (Kido and Nakamura 2016). In addition, a QR code is used to provide
a privacy-preserving delivery service and implement the authentication of couriers (Gao et al. 2018).
IoT technologies, especially WSN and RFID with sensors, can guarantee the safety and quality of
goods, particularly perishable products, by collecting, monitoring, and tracking ambient environ-
mental conditions during delivery. The ambient environmental information, like temperature and
humidity, can be collected automatically with WSN, monitoring the products throughout the distri-
bution (Tsang et al. 2018). This information can be checked by customers and provide feedback and
instructions to staff. Temperature sensors are widely used in the cold chain delivery process of fresh
fish (Trebar, Lotrič, and Fonda 2015), refrigerated vegetables (Ruiz-Garcia et al. 2010), and medicine
(Yang, Yang, and Yang 2011) where temperature needs to be strictly controlled. The sensing infor-
mation from WSN can measure and collect environmental indicators and goods status, to forecast
the perishability of goods and track ambient control (Bogataj, Bogataj, and Hudoklin 2017). Feed-
back control is performed through actuators according to a prescribed criterion function. Some
researchers integrated the RFID and WSN technology to guarantee that delivery items are held
under proper environmental conditions (Kim et al. 2016; Shi, Zhang, and Qu 2010).
IoT makes the delivery service safer and more accurate. The delivery process and information can
be tracked, visualised, and communicated. Smart delivery effectively guarantees reliability and
reduces failure. We summarise and classify IoT-based smart delivery according to the type of
goods delivered in Table 4. IoT technology plays slightly different roles in different types of goods
delivered. Smart delivery of general cargo focuses on the status of delivery and makes sure that
the goods are safely and accurately delivered. Considering the characteristics of perishable products,
extra attention should be paid to the perishability of goods during delivery. Therefore, the environ-
mental conditions of perishable products are necessary to be monitored, measured, and collected.
Meanwhile, ambient control should be conducted. However, compared with the control of delivery
processes, not many studies investigate how to make delivery faster and optimise delivery resources
with IoT.

4. Current challenges
4.1. Technical problems of RFID
RFID is susceptible to electromagnetic interference even under normal working conditions (Aviles
Gonzalez, Smith, and Vargas-Rosales 2015). For example, RFID is subject to electromagnetic
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 11

Table 4. Summary of smart delivery based on IoT.


Type of goods
delivered Impact of IoT IoT technology Source
General cargo Real-time tracking and positioning RFID, EPC, WSNs, ZigBee, QR Wang et al. (2019), He et al. (2019),
for delivery of goods, trucks and delivery codes, WLAN, GPRS, 3G, 4G, Sivamani, Kwak, and Cho (2014),
personnel; information sharing; and other wireless Lin, Cheng, and Wang (2011), Yang,
the visibility of the delivery communication networks Luo, and Lu (2015), Oliveira et al.
process; monitoring the status of (2015), Ngai et al. (2012), Fu et al.
cargo and truck’s conditions; (2015), Gao et al. (2018), Kido and
preventing cargo theft; reporting Nakamura (2016), Yu et al. (2015),
accidents of delivery; scheduling Musa, Gunasekaran, and Yusuf
and rescheduling vehicles; (2014), Yang, Yang, and Yang
protecting the privacy (2011)
Perishable Achieving the visibility and RFID, EPC, WSNs, ZigBee, NFC, Tsang et al. (2018), Cagliano, De
products for traceability of product and truck WLAN, GPRS, 3G, 4G, and Marco, and Rafele (2017), Kim et al.
delivery information; measuring and other wireless communication (2016), Shih and Wang (2016),
collecting environmental networks Bogataj, Bogataj, and Hudoklin
conditions of perishable products; (2017), Ruan and Shi (2016), Shi,
real-time monitoring and Zhang, and Qu (2010), Ruiz-Garcia
detection of the perishability and et al. (2010), Gautam et al. (2017),
quality of goods; developing real- Trebar, Lotrič, and Fonda (2015)
time alarm systems

interference and collision damages in container transportation due to stacked metallic containers, thus
affecting location and identification (Hidalgo Fort et al. 2018). RFID also has the problems of tag col-
lision (Wang et al. 2014; Chen and Zhao 2019) and tag identification loss (Zhao, Li, and Li 2014).
Although RFID makes the inventory and goods management more efficient, the classification statistics
of massive tags become a troublesome problem (Huang et al. 2019). Multiple reading and omission
errors are the major technical problems of RFID utilisation in a warehousing setting (Kim, Yang,
and Kim 2008). Receiving errors will be triggered when the frequency from the RFID tag is weakened
or blocked by the stocking of goods or metallic packaging materials. In addition, Pereira et al. (2013)
pointed out that RFID tags and sensors are subject to cost, energy consumption, and network deploy-
ment. For example, the data stored in the RFID can only be captured where RFID readers are in place,
usually at transit points like ports or warehouses, which limits the widespread adoption of RFID and
affects the tracing resolution (Harris, Wang, and Wang 2015; Santa et al. 2012).

4.2. Technical problems of WSNs


The quality or condition monitoring of WSN in freight transportation is confronted with technical
challenges, namely, the high signal attenuation by water-containing products, the compatibility of
communication protocols, the limited battery life of sensors, and the limited bandwidth and volume
costs for communication networks (Jedermann, Pötsch, and Lloyd 2014). The warehouse monitor-
ing system would be affected by the communication transmission failure caused by a large number of
simultaneous sensors (Jabbar et al. 2018). The monitoring data is prone to congestion, which triggers
the delay and loss of data and then delays alarm transmission (Shrestha et al. 2013). ZigBee, as a
common data transmission technology in WSNs, is facing the challenges of high power consump-
tion, low efficiency and long delay of data transmission, cross-technology interference, and security
and privacy concerns (Aju 2015; Chen et al. 2019). Furthermore, the configuration of WSN nodes
needs to be optimised to make it efficient and inexpensive (Trab et al. 2017).

4.3. Limited extension of IoT


At present, RFID and WSNs have been typically adopted in the logistics industry, but other IoT tech-
nologies, like Z-Wave, BLE, and M2M, have yet to prevail. Most of the practice of IoT-based smart
12 Y. DING ET AL.

logistics is limited to partial logistics system integration and intelligent support. In addition, there are
dynamic delays and connection problems in the transportation/delivery data transmission under the
current wireless communication networks, like GPRS/GSM (Zacharewicz, Deschamps, and Francois
2011). It is not conducive to the rapid response and decision-making of incidents, such as tempera-
ture control and alert transmission, during transportation/delivery.

4.4. Limited technical capacity of IoT


The limited computing power and data processing capacity make IoT inadequate in complex appli-
cations of logistics. IoT plays a limited role in vehicle selection and cargo load optimisation in trans-
portation. The storage allocation problems and container/truck loading problems are very complex
and hard to be solved by IoT technology (Vanderroost et al. 2017). The agile WMS cannot be
achieved by IoT either (Yan et al. 2014). In the delivery of perishable products, IoT technology can-
not provide decision-making of vehicle routes optimisation without the help of an intelligent algor-
ithm (Tsang et al. 2018). IoT technology can collect the big data of delivery resources and
requirements but cannot deal with how to optimise the scheduling method and enhance the level
of delivery resources utilisation (Zhu 2018). In last-mile delivery, it is not enough to solve the pro-
blems of resource waste and high cost.

4.5. Standardisation issues of IoT


Atzori, Iera, and Morabito (2010) hold that the construction of the IoT standard system and terminal
addressing are facing difficulties. For example, an agreed RFID standard needs to be developed for its
effective implementation (Lun et al. 2008). One of the greatest advantages of IoT is that it allows
greater visibility of logistics processes, which depends on the standardisation of data formats, soft-
ware, and protocols. Furthermore, IoT faces the challenges of heterogeneous applications, environ-
ments, and devices (Bandyopadhyay and Sen 2011). The heterogeneity comes not only from the
differences in capabilities and characteristics of devices but also from the different requirements
for multi-suppliers’ services and applications (Bellavista et al. 2013). This has posed a huge obstacle
to the perception, communication, and feedback of information. Razzaque et al. (2016) believe that
the heterogeneity of devices and networks will make the development of various applications and
services of IoT a challenging task.

4.6. Data acquisition and processing issues of IoT


The perceived and interactive logistics data exhibits these characteristics: an increase of the amount
of data, coexistence of structural data and unstructured data, incomplete, inaccurate or redundant
noisy data, and scattered data with valuable information (Zhong et al. 2015). Specifically, the cap-
tured and collected data is closely related to the logistics business, but it is so abstract that difficult
to visualise it for decision support, and the data classification and analysis are also very complex.
Although a large amount of data contains a wealth of valuable information, the available parts are
always limited (Zhong et al. 2016). Apart from the complex characteristics of big data, how to
deal with this data is a huge challenge. In addition, higher requirements are required for data storage
capacity and data computing power when collecting long-term and large amounts of data at a high
rate (Botta et al. 2016).

4.7. Security and privacy concerns on IoT


Security and privacy concerns on IoT restrict the development of IoT-based smart logistics,
especially for developed countries. Weber (2010) believes that IoT has risks of security and privacy
disclosure and holds that regulatory approaches, including attack interception, data verification,
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 13

access control, and user privacy assurance, should be strengthened. Lin et al. (2017) point out that
IoT can be attacked in many ways from the perception layer, network layer, and application layer.
Data privacy risk may lead to information disclosure, which triggers the abuse of tracking user pre-
ferences and schedules. Users, including couriers and customers, have concerns about data security
and privacy violations in the tracking of logistics processes. Logistics companies are also worried
about data being stolen by competitors (Lin et al. 2017). Security and privacy concerns are particu-
larly serious under information sharing. For example, the privacy issue is the largest concern for
shared delivery, given the nature of the open access and resource sharing of connected vehicles
(Wang et al. 2019).

5. Research needs
5.1. Development of IoT technology
IoT technology has been developing in performance and function. Many anti-collision algorithms
for RFID tags have been constructed to avoid tag collisions (Chen 2015; Su et al. 2018; Chen and
Zhao 2019), and several novel protocols have been proposed to identify the missing tags (Chen,
Xue, and Wang 2017; Shahzad and Liu 2016). The sensor’s battery life can be extended by optimising
communication protocols and by in-network preprocessing of the sensor data (Jedermann, Pötsch,
and Lloyd 2014). In addition to the improvement of IoT, its supporting technologies are making
great progress. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) uses 128-bit (16-byte) addresses whose space sup-
ports approximately 340 undecillion addresses (Wollschlaeger, Sauter, and Jasperneite 2017). These
almost inexhaustible addresses provide tremendous support for the addressing of any number of
objects needed in IoT. The coming fifth-generation of cellular networks (5G) brings greater speed
(to move more data), lower latency (to be more responsive), and lower energy and cost (to be econ-
omical) than ever before (Andrews et al. 2014). 5G architecture is expected to accommodate a wide
range of use cases in IoT with higher requirements for latency, resilience, coverage, and bandwidth.
However, there is no end to the development of technology and the actual demand. It is a research
need to further solve the above tough issues of IoT in Section 4.

5.2. Collaborative development of various technologies and advanced management


5.2.1. Cloud computing
Cloud computing carries the critical infrastructure of various applications and provides basic sup-
port for the development of technologies, such as IoT, big data, and AI. Specifically, it can be
used to solve the key issues like how to store, retrieve, and use the data perceived by IoT. It can
also effectively integrate various logistics resources and promote efficient docking and collaborative
innovation among logistics components. A cloud computing-based smart logistics information plat-
form can make real-time and dynamic responses according to the logistics information perceived by
IoT. It can also deal with the requirements of each logistics component and then provide efficient
logistics schemes to realise information transfer and sharing. In addition, clouds enhance the
reliability of devices by allowing heavy tasks to be offloaded, which increases devices’ battery dur-
ation or offers the possibility of building a modularised architecture (Botta et al. 2016).
Cloud-IoT (or CoT) is an integration of cloud and IoT. This new IT paradigm considers the lim-
ited storage and processing capabilities of IoT and the almost limitless capabilities of cloud comput-
ing in these areas (Botta et al. 2016). Cloud-IoT helps the logistics system develop into a shared
system and provides strong computing power to build IoT-based smart logistics, which makes the
logistics system automatically handle complex situations and changes. For example, the cold
chain logistics system based on cloud computing provides shared databases and software for logistics
business management and connects logistics companies with customers (Li, Ying, and Xi 2012). An
intelligent supply chain integration and management system based on CoT provides flexible and
14 Y. DING ET AL.

agile approaches to facilitate resource sharing and participant collaboration in the whole supply
chain life cycle (Yan et al. 2014).

5.2.2. Big data


If the massive data collected by IoT were processed timely and accurately, it would transform data
disaster and resource waste into data welfare and resource utilisation. Big data technology can be
used to model and analyze historical data, and predict the future situation, such as delivery delay
(AlShaer et al. 2019). It can also pre-process and mine the heterogeneous data to support
decision-making. In terms of the application of big data in logistics, it can be used to optimise
paths of aircrafts, trains, and trucks to reduce the energy consumption and the negative impact
on the environment (Ben Ayed, Ben Halima, and Alimi 2015). It can also meet the greatest logistics
demands with the least resource allocation and reduce logistics costs. For example, big data of deliv-
ery requirements from logistics delivery companies can be obtained through the IoT and/or Internet
and then can be used to select the delivery route which matches the delivery requirements (Zhu
2018). This route enhances the level of logistics delivery resource utilisation and reduces logistics
delivery costs. Big data technology can provide the optimal routes and alternative circuits to deliver
parcels as efficiently as possible based on complete information, such as customer location, service
time window, traffic congestion, and truckload (Tsang et al. 2018). That means the comprehensive
analysis of related data can be used to select the right means of transportation, optimise cargo load
and delivery path.
In application, there has been a real-time vehicle monitoring system based on big data in India
(Ben Ayed, Ben Halima, and Alimi 2015). This system exploits vehicle sensors and GPS devices
to collect data about fuel, speed, acceleration, and GPS position coordinates, which are transmitted
by packets over GPRS to clustered servers running Hadoop. These terabytes of data are analyzed by
using a Hadoop analysis system weekly or monthly to improve transport company productivity and
reduce costs. In addition, the transformation and upgrading of the public transportation system in
Dublin (Ben Ayed, Ben Halima, and Alimi 2015) have been carried out through collecting data and
information from bus systems, traffic flow, closed-circuit television monitoring, road weather con-
ditions, road works and maintenance, and Dublin events. A real-time digital map of the traffic net-
work has been established in Dublin, which improves the public bus transportation network and
reduces the increasing traffic congestion problems.

5.2.3. AI
AI is used to simulate, learn, and extend human intelligence with machines (Russell and Norvig
2009). AI makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs, and perform
human-like tasks. Computers can be trained to perform specific tasks by using deep learning (Lecun,
Bengio, and Hinton 2015) and natural language processing (Collobert and Weston 2008). Specifi-
cally, it can forecast future states and make precise judgments with the deep learning of large histori-
cal data and real-time information. It can also judge and distinguish valuable and invalid
information. Mass data collected by IoT can make AI more powerful, accurate, and intelligent,
and then the decision made by AI can be executed by IoT devices. Furthermore, AI enriches the per-
ceptive function of IoT. For example, machine vision (Davies 2012) makes robots collect more real-
time data and undertakes more efficient and precise identification and detection. Biometrics, such as
fingerprint recognition (Maltoni et al. 2009) and face recognition (Zhao et al. 1998), achieve a better
interaction between human beings and machines.
Smart logistics supported by AI can provide better decision support for logistics activities and
make the optimal operation strategy. Some intelligent algorithms have been used to solve route
optimisation problems in logistics. Genetic algorithms have been adopted to optimise transpor-
tation and delivery routes (Cheung et al. 2008; Tsang et al. 2018). An evolutionary ant colony
algorithm has been exploited to guide the routing of automated guided vehicles in an automated
warehouse (Zhou et al. 2014). Besides, intelligent algorithms can be used to solve truck or ship
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 15

loading problems (Kim et al. 2008). A CBR engine has been used to provide decision support in
warehousing operations. CBR usually adopts real-time warehouse data, like identities and
locations, collected by RFID to develop a warehousing operation strategy when problems
occur in the warehouse (Lam et al. 2015). The CBR engine can generate operational assignment
activities by retrieving and analysing relevant knowledge stored in the case-based repository to
deal with receiving operations in the warehouse, which improves operational efficiency and cus-
tomer satisfaction (Lao et al. 2012). The engine can also be used to select the appropriate MHE
for managing order-picking operations (Poon et al. 2009). In addition, the prediction and optim-
isation of logistics activities based on AI can significantly promote their performance. For
example, DHL has developed a machine learning-based tool to predict delays in air freight transit
time for proactive mitigation (DHL and IBM 2018).

5.2.4. Advanced management


In addition to the collaborative development and mutual support of the aforementioned technol-
ogies, advanced management is indispensable to build smart logistics. Advanced management is
used to carry out effective plans, organisation, leadership, and control of logistics activities and
runs through the whole development of smart logistics. A management information system is
required to achieve information sharing and coordination in smart transportation and delivery
(Wang 2010). An intelligent WMS, which combines IoT, cloud computing, and big data, can be bet-
ter applied to the smart warehousing (Zhong et al. 2016).
Figure 5 shows the system architecture of smart logistics for the collaborative development of IoT,
cloud computing, big data, AI, and advanced management.
In smart logistics, a large amount of data is collected by IoT devices, like RFID and sensors, and
processed by themselves with edge computing or analyzed by big data technology with cloud com-
puting. Some of these data are deep learned by AI with cloud computing to make further analysis and
more intelligent decisions. Then the decision-making is implemented by the IoT devices like actua-
tors. The advanced management is used to plan, organise, and coordinate facilities and equipment in
smart logistics. It also integrates with these technologies to support the logistics system. It is a
research need that how to develop these ICTs and advanced management together to build smart
logistics.

5.3. Development of smart logistics


Smart logistics consists of smart freight transportation, warehousing, and delivery. It makes the logis-
tics system information sharing, rapid response, and resource integration through the application
and integration of IoT, big data, cloud computing, and AI as well as advanced management. It
aims to build a more agile, accurate, efficient, and safer logistics system, which provides customers
with more flexible, accurate, faster, and safer logistics services.

5.3.1. Extension of IoT applied in logistics


In IoT-based smart logistics, the data and information have been communicated, shared, and visual-
ised. This promotes interaction between transportation and delivery service providers and customers,
making the process transparent and traceable and improving customer satisfaction. This also provides
decentralised decision-making and rapid response to the incidents that occur in warehousing. How-
ever, the IoT-based smart logistics system is not intelligent enough. IoT with limited computing power
can make fast but rough decisions. Current research and applications have focused mostly on RFID
and WSNs, which are part of IoT technology. Therefore, we need to further enrich the research and
applications of other IoT technologies applied in logistics, like M2M, BLE, and Z-Waze.
16 Y. DING ET AL.

Figure 5. System architecture of smart logistics for the collaborative development of various technologies and advanced
management.

5.3.2. Collaborative development of ICTs in logistics


Other technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, and AI, efficiently enhance the intelligence of
IoT-based smart logistics. Some tough problems, like truck loading problems, routing optimisation
problems, indoor location problems, and MHE selection problems, can be solved through the joint
use of these advanced ICTs, which makes logistics activities more efficient, agile, and accurate. Mass
data collected by IoT devices is analyzed and processed by big data and AI with cloud computing,
assisting the logistics system in making optimal decisions. The cooperative application among
IoT, cloud computing, big data, and AI can impel smart logistics to become a collaborative system.
Therefore, it is also a research need for smart logistics that how to promote the collaborative devel-
opment of advanced ICTs. However, the collaborative application cannot develop an integrated
smart logistics system.

5.3.3. Integrating logistics systems with advanced management


Another research need for smart logistics is adopting advanced management to integrate the logistics
system. Different logistics components, including freight transportation, warehousing, and delivery,
should be integrated through a smart management system in the development of smart logistics.
Furthermore, the integration of a smart supply chain system, including smart manufacturing and
smart logistics, should be considered.

6. Conclusions
This paper systematically and extensively describes the research and applications of IoT-based smart
logistics. Specifically, we reviewed and analyzed the research and applications of IoT in freight trans-
portation, warehousing, and delivery. The key findings and conclusions of the review are as follows:
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 17

. At present, IoT technology applied in logistics is mainly composed of RFID, WSNs, and ZigBee.
RFID makes real-time logistics information traceable, which forms the basic function and feature
of IoT-based smart logistics. WSNs are effective to guarantee safety for goods and trucks in con-
dition and environment monitoring.
. Cold chain logistics, from the perishable food industry, agriculture, and the fishing industry, and
chemical logistics have a high motivation to adopt smart logistics.
. Developed economies and China attach great importance to the study and application of IoT-
based smart logistics. The vast majority of developing countries are short of that.
. The application of IoT can make freight transportation more efficient, visualised, and secure as
well as traceable, but no studies show that IoT can play a role in the transportation network design
and mode selection.
. IoT-based smart warehousing would be more efficient, visualised, and accurate as well as secure.
Besides, the warehousing process would be streamlined, and the warehousing resources would be
optimised. The decentralised decision-making can be achieved with IoT in a centralised WMS.
However, the selection of storage allocation strategy and indoor routing optimisation are still
the challenges for the IoT-based smart warehousing.
. The delivery information is interactive and sharable between delivery service providers and custo-
mers in smart delivery. Delivery would be more controllable, secure, and visualised with IoT. How-
ever, smart delivery relying solely on IoT cannot make it faster and optimise delivery resources.
. The current challenges of IoT-based smart logistics include technical problems of RFID and
WSNs, limited extension and technical capacity of IoT, standardisation issues of IoT, data acqui-
sition and processing issues of IoT, and security and privacy concerns on IoT.
. Some specific problems of IoT-based smart logistics, like vehicle routing problems, truck loading
problems, and storage assignment problems, can be solved through the joint adoption of
advanced ICTs.
. ICTs, such as big data, cloud computing, and AI, efficiently enhance the intelligence of IoT-based
smart logistics and make it a collaborative system. A smart management system integrates differ-
ent logistics components, including smart freight transportation, warehousing, and delivery.
. Research needs for smart logistics include further solving key technical issues of IoT, extending
various IoT technologies applied in logistics, developing IoT, big data, cloud computing, and
AI together to build smart logistics, and adopting advanced management to integrate logistics
systems.

This paper proposes a new working definition of smart logistics and pays more attention to IoT-
based smart logistics. Limited by the article space, the detailed research and applications of other
technologies in logistics have not been analyzed.

Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LY18G010019). The authors
gratefully acknowledge financial support from the China Scholarship Council.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding
This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LY18G010019). The authors
gratefully acknowledge financial support from the China Scholarship Council (No. 201808330377).
18 Y. DING ET AL.

ORCID
Yangke Ding http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4072-8077
Mingzhou Jin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2387-8129

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOGISTICS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS 23

Appendix

Table A1. List of acronyms and terms.


Acronym Term
3G The third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology
4G The fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology
5G The fifth-generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks
AI Artificial intelligence
BLE Bluetooth Low Energy
CBR Case-based reasoning
CoT Cloud-IoT
EPC Electronic Product Code
GIS Geographic information system
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GPS Global Positioning System
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
ICT Information and communications technology
IoT Internet of things
IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6
ITS Intelligent transportation system
M2M Machine to machine
MHE Material handling equipment
NFC Near Field Communication
PI Physical Internet
QR Quick Response
RFID Radio-frequency identification
SKU Stock keeping unit
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
WMS Warehouse management system
WSN Wireless sensor network

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