Silicon Economy

Logistics is undergoing a paradigm shift: access-controlled systems are being replaced by open, federal structures in which international data spaces ensure data sovereignty. This is the basic idea of the Silicon Economy, in which distributed artificial intelligences act as an essential driver. They negotiate, schedule, optimize stocks, simulate flows of goods or analyze goods by camera. Billions of autonomous devices will soon share information with each other, while smart contracts based on Blockchain technology will be negotiated and concluded using software according to defined rules – and will automatically trigger payment processes based on fulfilled if-then statements.

When everything becomes intelligent and everything communicates with everything, huge amounts of data are created – a real paradise for new, data-based business models. This creates digital platforms for the B2B area, which have long been part of our everyday life in the private customer area with Amazon, Uber or Alibaba. Companies can become brokers in the Silicon Economy: IoT brokers that connect intelligent containers or pallets with each other and offer the data obtained from them; Blockchain brokers through which smart contracts can be concluded and offer payment using cryptocurrency; or logistics brokers that offer logistics services and organize logistics processes.

The gigantic computing power and storage capacity that we now have, as well as the real-time connectivity via 5G enable us to help the Silicon Economy to have a breakthrough now. It is about converting existing technologies into end-to-end solutions. We will show you on the following pages that we have long since been holding the necessary technologies in our hands – with developments from Fraunhofer IML that piece by piece put together the puzzle of the Silicon Economy.

Whether in the laboratory, on the construction site or in the car workshop: With the “IoT Service Button”, which Fraunhofer IML developed in cooperation with Deutsche Telekom, ordering processes can be triggered automatically with a simple push of a button. The button sends the information via “Narrowband IoT”. This new 5G-compatible radio technology offers numerous advantages that make any object a part of the Internet of Things in no time at all: The low power consumption enables extremely long battery life for many thousands of clicks. In addition, the deep building penetration of the network ensures reliable data transmission – even from remote factory halls or cellars.

 

Whether in the laboratory, on the construction site or in the car workshop: With the “IoT Service Button”, which Fraunhofer IML developed in cooperation with Deutsche Telekom, ordering processes can be triggered automatically with a simple push of a button. The button sends the information via “Narrowband IoT”. This new 5G-compatible radio technology offers numerous advantages that make any object a part of the Internet of Things in no time at all: The low power consumption enables extremely long battery life for many thousands of clicks. In addition, the deep building penetration of the network ensures reliable data transmission – even from remote factory halls or cellars.

 

Together with Rhenus, Fraunhofer IML has developed a 5G-compatible sensor for the Internet of Things (see also p. 20). Thanks to “iCon”, levels and movements of containers can be transmitted – reliably, cheaply and maintenance-free. The data transmission is completely independent of existing network infrastructures. A wide variety of container management applications are conceiv- able for the wireless, battery-operated sensor: the developers first tested the sensor on containers for document shredding; however, use of glass and wastepaper containers for municipal disposal is also conceivable in the future. Series production and sales are scheduled for 2020. Then Rhenus wants to bring the first 100,000 smart data containers onto the market.

The “LogCoin” cryptocurrency, which is based on Blockchain technology, is intended to enable smart contracts to be concluded in logistics (see also p. 22). The researchers involved are currently setting up a token network for this. In this network, LogCoin is the accountable currency with which micro payments can be processed. Via Blockchain, the network enables seamless monitoring of transactions in real time. Thanks to smart contract technology, billing and processing are easy. Freight forwarders, banks and providers can also trigger follow-up processes automatically. The technology works across companies and for the entire supply chain network.

If artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and Blockchain technology work together, production processes can run more flexibly and efficiently: In the so-called “cyber-physical production system” (CPPS), for example, groups within the system negotiate with each other about which resources are needed for a new order. They also communicate which units – for example robots, load carriers or employees – are available and which ones are best suited for the job. This communication is hardly noticeable to people and happens very quickly. If material stocks have to be replenished, an artificial intelligence informs the system. Thanks to this decentralized organization, the CPPS can also react flexibly to individual orders or short-term plan changes – the rigid structures in production are dissolved and a self-optimizing system is created.

With the “LoadRunner”, Fraunhofer IML has developed an autonomous transport vehicle that is predestined for use in the Silicon Economy. The vehicles have a special form of load pick-up and drop-off, can organize themselves dynamically and autonomously in the swarm and, if necessary, can even couple together for transport orders. Thanks to highly distributed artificial intelligence, they will be able to independently accept and negotiate orders in the future. In the Silicon Economy, swarms of vehicles will organize themselves and connect with people, other swarms and platforms. This requires an open digital infrastructure in which the vehicles can communicate securely via 5G and independently conclude pay-per-use contracts using Blockchain. The LoadRunner has the prerequisites for this. It embodies the great idea of the Silicon Economy in a small vehicle: interlinking goods flows, information and financial transactions – in an open, federal ecosystem. The potential of the technology has not gone unnoticed by politicians either: The German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure is funding the development of the LoadRunner with 1.6 million euros.