Delivering customer satisfaction: UPS & wireless: UPS uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to streamline package tracking.

IT'S 10PM. Do you know where your packages are? Knowing that your Amazon or eBay purchase is at an air hub in Hartford isn't going to make your package arrive any faster. But, somehow, knowing its exact location makes you feel like your package is special and somebody, somewhere is "watching over" it.

The United Parcel Service (UPS) Web site averages more than 8 million tracking requests every business day. According to David Salzman, program manager at UPS, "Customers want to know where their packages are at all times." He adds, "Not just where it was, but where it is." With their sporty brown uniforms and matching industrial vans, UPS delivers more than 13 million packages worldwide every day. It takes 88,000 cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles to make deliveries from more than 1,700 operating facilities in more than 200 countries.

UPS has embarked on an ambitious plan to deploy a new generation of technology to enable efficient and expeditious package tracking in its truck-loading facilities. In this article, I'll explore the past, present, and future of package delivery technology.

Lift and load

The primary duty of a vehicle loader at a UPS warehouse is to load packages into the correct truck for delivery as quickly as possible. Workers who are consumed with speedily lifting boxes and placing them onto trucks need a hands-free way to scan bar codes and update tracking information. The less intrusive the scanning process, the faster the workers can lift and load packages onto the trucks.

In 1996, Symbol Technologies designed a wearable scanning system for UPS. The system consisted of a laser scanner worn as a "ring" across two fingers and a terminal strapped to the employee's forearm. A thin wire connected the scanner to the terminal. The terminal connected to the rest of the network via a proprietary Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) wireless network, operating at 900MHz and providing 56kbps of data throughput. (Remember, this was 1996, a full year before the first 802.11 specification was ratified.)

This scanner/terminal system solved a big business problem because packages could be scanned as they were being placed on the vehicles without slowing down the truck loaders. Although the 1996 system was a breakthrough, there were still some lingering problems. Most notably, the wire connecting the ring scanner and forearm terminal was constantly breaking. Also, the additional weight made carrying the terminal on their forearms uncomfortable for workers. Last, the 900MHz operating frequency, considered unlicensed spectrum in the U.S., wasn't available worldwide. So, UPS had international operations, but it couldn't use the system in all countries.

Thinking outside the (Brown) box

For its next generation of package loading technology, UPS has made several improvements. The new system still has a ring scanner, but instead of connecting to the terminal via a wire, the ring uses Bluetooth to communicate with the terminal. The terminal is now a belt-mounted device instead of strapped to the forearm. And, instead of a proprietary wireless protocol, the terminals now communicate with the network via standard 802.11b (Wi-Fi) technology.

UPS is finishing pilot testing in five locations. Over the next year, the new system will be deployed across all U.S. facilities and will eventually be deployed worldwide. Over five years, the company estimates it will invest US$120 million.

Here's how the new solution addresses the issues of the old system: The Bluetooth wireless transport eliminates the need for a wire between the scanner and terminal. Workers wear the terminal, now Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-enabled, in a more comfortable hip-mounted location. The 2.4GHz frequency of Bluetooth and 802.11 is available as unlicensed spectrum almost everywhere around the globe.

Caution: fragile contents?

UPS has found creative solutions to address a variety of wireless performance and integration issues to which many companies can relate.

First, there's the interaction between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Because both devices operate in the 2.4GHz spectrum, there's potential for interference when the Bluetooth ring and the Wi-Fi terminal try to transmit at the same time. UPS solved this problem using Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices are time-synchronized to use alternating bursts of traffic--80 milliseconds for 802.11 traffic, then 20 milliseconds for Bluetooth traffic. By dividing the airwaves into "time slices," the system avoids potential interference between the two wireless systems.

Next, there was the problem of battery power. Wireless devices are notorious for quickly draining batteries. UPS uses a battery size that provides power for six hours of device usage. Because any given shift is never longer than six hours, the device is assured to be available for the duration of the shift.

The third problem was security. Wireless networks are well known for having security vulnerabilities. UPS originally deployed wired equivalent privacy (WEP) to protect its wireless networks. After security flaws were discovered in the protocol, UPS switched to a proprietary Symbol solution called Keyguard (http://www.symbol.com). Although you usually want to avoid proprietary technologies, in this case, it was a good choice for UPS because WEP was inadequate. Given the relatively low value of the information being transmitted across the air (e.g., bar codes and other tracking information), UPS is comfortable with the current level of security.

The last problem was another security issue: Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. The goal of a DoS attack is to cause the network to become unavailable (i.e., deny the service of the network). DoS attacks can either be intentional (such as flooding RF noise at a particular frequency) or unintentional (such as the interference caused by a microwave oven, cordless phone, or other device at a particular frequency). On a wireless network, DoS attacks have the potential to grind traffic to a halt. UPS protects itself from both intentional and unintentional wireless network failures by using an optional batch mode. If the Wi-Fi network fails, the device can batch all the transaction and upload them to the network at the end of a shift via wired connection. Although this doesn't provide the timeliest information, it's a good backup mechanism that lets the driver continue to gather data without slowing down the loading of the trucks. Bluetooth malfunctions, however, don't have a backup solution. UPS doesn't have a small wire or cable it could place between the ring scanner and the hip mounted terminal in the event of a Bluetooth break down. Therefore, a failure in the Bluetooth component could be debilitating.

Upcoming deliveries

For its next technology initiative, UPS is turning its attention to the Delivery Information Access Device (DIAD). This is the small tablet that delivery drivers use to gather information such as signatures and up-to-the-minute delivery data. The next version of the DIAD is slated to have no fewer than five wireless interfaces: GPRS, CDMA/1xRTT, GPS, Bluetooth and 802.11.

The wireless WAN connections will allow real-time (in the-field) data transfers. The on-board Bluetooth and 802.11 connections will let the tablet automatically synchronize when it's in range of the UPS warehouse facility, thus eliminating the need for the current cradle-based system.

MOBILE BUSINESS BENEFITS

For UPS, speed is everything, so it's constantly looking for ways to streamline processes to increase efficiency. Find out how Wi-Fi and Bluetooth help UPS speed package delivery for happier customers.

Lee Barken, CCNA, MCP, CISSP, CPA has been in the IT industry since 1987. He started his first company at age 13, building PCs in his garage and performing network consulting services. As a college student, Lee served as the technology advisor to the College of Business at San Diego State University, where he implemented creative uses of technology in the classroom and helped establish distance learning initiatives.

More recently, Lee worked as an IT consultant and network security specialist for Ernst & Young's Information Technology Risk Management (ITRM) practice, and KPMG's Risk and Advisory Services (RAS) practice. Lee is the co-founder of the San Diego Wireless Users Group (http://www.sdwug.org) and has authored many articles and speaks at national conferences on the topic of wireless LAN technology and security. He also teaches the "WLAN Deployment and Security" class for University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Extension (UCSD) Extension and is the author of How Secure is Your Wireless Network? Safeguarding Your Wi-Fi LAN, a comprehensive book on wireless security, [e-mail].