Content for  TR 22.872  Word version:  16.1.0

Asset tracking is becoming a key capability for worldwide logistics like in the railway or maritime freight sector (containers, tanks and wagons):

• For providers and customers: it provides means to optimise the overall transportation efficiency, and improves end-to-end traceability. Freight tracking enables more accurate scheduling of all involved operations (departure and arrival time, delays, organisation of transhipment, etc.).
• For freight operators, it eases lean asset management (maintenance and retrofit of assets, reduced risks relating to lost or stolen cargos, containers and wagons)
• Freight tracking helps securing the transportation of hazardous materials and goods, and supports efficient operations in relation with regulation, for instance at customs (procedures may adapt to freight, transit route, countries through which the container / wagon travelled, etc.).

The asset tracker should fulfil very long lifetime (up to 15 years), with very low maintenance and power autonomy enabled by batteries sustaining the whole lifetime or with energy harvesting (solar panel, mechanical energy harvesting during transportation) or with both. The position-related data need to be secured and protected against tampering to dissuade from any unauthorized use, fraud or theft of the transported goods. The use case can be expanded to other verticals, as it is the case in clause 5.43 of TR 22.891 v14.2.0 (Feasibility Study on New Services and Markets Technology Enablers).

The UE (asset tracker installed on a container, tank, and wagon) is equipped with a 5G communication module and a 5G positioning module. It is self-powered using energy harvesting or long-lifetime battery, and connects to sensors reporting relevant information about the asset (temperature, pressure, shock and motion detection, etc.). When installed on the asset, the UE is properly initialised, with secure parameters and trusted initial conditions. The service areas are categorized as follow:

• Transportation areas: outdoor, covering very wide areas (regional and continental level) including mountainous areas, canopy and tunnels. The transportation areas can include areas with no terrestrial coverage (e.g. a container on a ship at sea).
• Storage areas: enhanced positioning areas (up to 10 km²), with storage both indoor and outdoor (warehouse, railway stations, harbours, etc.) and a very high density of users (above 100 000 per km²).

The Asset Management System (AMS), connected to a 5G Network, collects and processes the information reported by all device trackers relating to a given customer.

Container C, equipped with an asset tracker (UE), is planned to deliver a cargo from storage area A to C, using a train that will transit via B. If A, B and C have different applicable regulations for the transported freight, specific control will apply upon arrival in C. Before departure from A, the UE is initialised securely (initial position, planned route, etc.) From A to C (transportation service area), the UE enables the 3GPP system to determine its current position (and velocity), and reports relevant parameters related to the asset or freight container (collected parameters like freight temperature, pressure, detection of shock). The determination of position (and velocity) is performed on a regular basis, but not continuously, and does not need to be reported in real-time to the AMS. Position-related data should allow to coarsely identify where the freight is, whether it is moving and in which direction. Meanwhile, Container C's position-related data and parameters are collected and used by the AMS at least to:

• monitor the transfer and delivery by Container C, and update stakeholders on schedule and delivery time, and eventually, raise alert in case of delivery delays, rerouting (different route than the one initially planned), etc.
• support End-to-End traceability, efficient procedure at customs (transit via B) and facilitate the control of the compliancy to regulation.

Upon arrival in the storage area C, and until customer takes delivery of the container's content, the UE's position is determined in 3D and used to identify container C. High accuracy is needed to distinguish containers on stacks. During handling, position-related data are determined continuously, also with very high accuracy. After handling, during storage, the UE switches to idle mode, monitors motion to detect unauthorised handling or move, and wakes up regularly (e.g. daily basis) to enable position check. The position of the asset tracker must be determined all along its travel into the transportation area to ensure continuity of the traceability information. This includes areas with no terrestrial coverage. Therefore, when the UE is outside coverage of 3GPP RAT-dependent positioning technologies:

• The UE enables non-3GPP positioning technologies to determine its position (e.g. using a GNSS receiver). In the case that the UE determines its position (e.g. using a GNSS receiver), it shall log the position-related data into its memory.
• The 5G system is able to access to the log of the position determined outside the coverage of 3GPP RAT-dependent positioning technologies.

Container C was delivered in due time, with minimal latency and time overheads. It followed a safe route, duly reported and traced in the AMS. The customer had continuously access to the full traceability of the delivery and is in turn able to provide evidence of traceability to subsequent customer. Thanks to the logged information, the freight operator may demonstrate the compliancy to regulation with minimum effort, and use the information collected by the AMS to improve the efficiency of his deliveries.

The 5G system shall be able to provide positioning service for the static UE in an enhanced positioning area, indoor or outdoor with the following potential requirements:

• Absolute position accuracy: [1] m (horizontal and vertical), [99] % availability, an update rate up to [1] Hz and a latency less than [1] s.
• TTFF less than [10] s.

The 5G system shall be able to provide positioning service for UE moving at speed up to 180 km/h outdoor, over very wide coverage with the following potential requirements:

• Absolute position accuracy: [10-30] m horizontal position accuracy, [99] % availability
• Velocity accuracy: [5] m/s horizontal velocity accuracy, [99] % availability
• Position and velocity update rate: the time interval between 2 successive position fix can vary between [300 s] and [24 hours].

The UE shall support mechanisms to determine its position using non-3GPP positioning technologies when outside the coverage of 3GPP RAT-dependent positioning technologies. The 5G system shall support mechanisms to access the UE's position-related data determined when the UE is outside the coverage of 3GPP RAT-dependent positioning technologies. The 5G System shall be able to provide a positioning service involving an average of less than [20 mJ] of the UE's energy per position fix. The 5G System shall support mechanisms to protect positioning-related data against tampering and spoofing. The 5G System shall support mechanisms to detect tampering and spoofing attempts on the position-related data.