You’ve got a package coming in the mail. It left Cumberland, Maryland yesterday morning, and after fifteen refreshes, it finally got scanned into your local post office. With FedEx’s new SenseAware sensor platform, you’ll have even more reasons to be glued to the tracking page.
There are two big selling points. First, is the hardware not only uses GPS to pinpoint a package’s location, it can detect temperature shifts and whether the package has been opened / exposed to light. The degree of accuracy of the temperature readings has officially been labeled as “precise” so who knows what that means. Now, you can read this feature one of two ways. Either “Good, I’ll know if my packages were tampered with”, or “Sithspit, now my fake insurance claims don’t have a leg to stand on.”
The second point is the software platform used to communicate with each tag. All web-based, meaning no large scale software installs for companies, and its very close to real time. You’ll know within minutes if your shipment suddenly ran through a freezer for absolutely no reason. Or actually important information too, if that’s what you’re into.
SenseAware is currently being implemented in Life Sciences shipping departments all across the US. No word on when the next stage of development is, but check senseaware.com for updates.