Goal: To show the benefits of developing for the iCargo platform as opposed to any existing ERP or logistics platform or independent development. – What can I achieve using iCargo that I can't achieve using existing systems? – Is development quicker using the ecosystem if so by how much? – What revenue models are there? – How is the ecosystem governed? Author: Ben Hodgson, Senior Scientist, BMT Group

1. www.i-cargo.eu
Intelligent Cargo in Efficient and Sustainable
Global Logistics Operations
Benefits of
developing for
the iCargo platform
---
iCargo Training Series
May.2015

2. www.i-cargo.eu
Intelligent Cargo in Efficient and Sustainable
Global Logistics Operations
iCargo is a large-scale integrating project co-funded by the European Commission within the FP7 Information
and Communication Technologies Work Programme. iCargo involves representatives of the main
stakeholders in the areas of research and technological development, logistics companies, shippers and
public authorities. The 29 partners coming from 13 countries are coordinated by the Research and
Innovation Hub of ATOS Spain.
iCargo will design and implement a decentralized ICT infrastructure allowing real world objects, new planning
services including CO2 calculation capabilities and existing systems to co-exist and efficiently co-operate at
an affordable cost for logistics stakeholders.
The iCargo project aims at supporting new logistics services that:
₋ Synchronize vehicle movements and logistics operations across various modes and actors to lower CO2
emissions
₋ Adapt to changing conditions through dynamic planning methods involving intelligent cargo, vehicle and
infrastructure systems and
₋ Combine services, resources and information from different stakeholders, taking part in an open freight
management ecosystem.

3. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Ben Hodgson
Senior Scientist- BMT Group
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
3
iCargo Training - 20 April 2015, online

4. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
1. Brief overview of iCargo from a developers perspective
2. The business opportunity
- Trend towards ICT services in logistics
- Trend towards collaborative business models
- Why closed platforms are not the way forward
3. Developing your application with iCargo
3.1. The difficulties of developing logistics applications.
3.2. Standardised communication
- Access point
- Cloud service bus
- Distributed discovery
Table of Contents
4

5. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu5
The problem
Appl.
P
Appl.
X
Appl.
S
Appl.
X
Appl.
Y
Appl.
?
Factory Shipment In-city
delivery
Long haul
transport
Road transport
Warehouse
Storage
Customer
delivery
information flow
Supply chains are managed using multiple, often disparate applications with no or limited means to
optimize and control centrally

6. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu6
What we want
Appl.
P
Appl.
X
Appl.
S
Appl.
X
Appl.
Y
Appl.
X
Appl.
?
Horizontal information flow
Shift in paradigm: from process into “thing” oriented

7. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu7
Thing orientated “Digital shadows”
Real
world
Virtual
presence
Thing orientated “Digital shadows”
Services Services Services
ID
YID
ID
ID
ID
ID

8. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
• Nowadays, only large companies can afford to
implement dedicated gateways to enable their
ERP systems to exchange information with
each other. Therefore the need arises for a
flexible way of connecting systems to realize
connections on the basis of trusted business
agreements in a matter of days instead of
development projects of months.
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

9. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
iCargo from a developers perspective
9
To offer a direct practical advantage for logistics, the business application Emission
monitoring and the generic components such as the Access Point are also part of the
iCargo base infrastructure.
Figure 2 gives a functional overview of the scope of the iCargo base infrastructure. A
complete overview of all involved software components is listed in section 2.
Figure 2 - Context diagram
The iCargo base infrastructure will be extended as deliverable [D4.3] with business
applications such as “logistic chain composition” and secondary software services to

10. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Focus on getting and updating and reacting to
information about entities such as cargo and
vehicles held by trusted business partners
defined on the basis of a cooperation
agreement.
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

11. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform
• Installation an Access Point and register your
organisation.
• Publication & discovery of business services..
• Establish Cooperation Agreements which specify what
information shall be exchanged as notifications
• Transport order defines involved entities.
• Information about entities is automatically exchanged

12. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

13. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

14. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Entities: Represent things.
Like Objects in object orientated programming
These can be physical objects like containers, parcels, trucks, cranes, trains ….
Or they can be other business level things like agreements…..
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

15. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Entities: structure
You can find entities and depending on your authorization. Get or change their
information. Just like a NoSQL database.
iCargo_D2.4 Mobile infrastructure and Semantic gateways v1.0.docx Page 81 of 101
Figure 49 – Semantic concepts class diagram
Concepts and entities have six mandatory attributes which are described in table 20. In this
table, the term “reference” is used as a shorthand for a unique pointer to a concept or
entity defined in the semantic model being used by the Access Point.
IR-ES-01 The following attributes are mandatory for concepts and entities:
Attribute Description
id a unique reference (within the scope of an Access Point) of a concept or entity
alias the business name, alphanumeric code or textual reference of a concept or entity
owner a reference that represents the actor that controls the lifecycle of this concept or entity
class A reference that specifies the type of entity as additional distinction in case multiple
occurrence of the same name or alias
relations a list of references that contains the relations with entities and concepts defined in a
semantic model. For example, the range of operations for a business service description can
be included here as a list of countries or continents
state a reference that represents the state of the concept or entity. The following states are
specified in [D2.1]: TEST, OPERATIONAL & OBSOLETE
Table 20 – Concept class attributes
ID
Alias
Owner
Class
Relations
State
Data
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

16. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Semantic: models
Semantic models define the schema of concepts
Like class definitions .
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

17. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Facts: information about an entity
You can update information about an entity by providing a fact. Facts are
stamped with source and time avoiding locks and versioning conflicts.
Subject
Source
Content
Timestamp
State
Place
Value
iCargo 08.07.2013
IR-ES-02 The combination “class” and “alias” shall result in a unique reference.
Consequently, an “id” or “index” can directly be used to refer to a (REST) resource while
“alias” needs a preceding classification. This results in two types of path structures:
/<index>
/<alias of a class>/<alias of the resource>
The shorthand “collection” is used in this document for <alias of a class> and the term
“member” is used for <alias of the resource> which results in a common (REST) notation:
/<collection>/<member>
Facts
IR-ES-03 A “Fact” is an information model and used to exchange information about an entity. A Fact
has “envelope” attributes which describe the context of the information that is included as
“payload”. The envelope attributes refer to concepts defined in a semantic model.
Attribute Description
Envelope
subject23 a reference to an entity (the subject)
Source23 a reference to the originator of the information
Content23 a reference to the type of information and format being sent as payload
timestamp the timestamp of occurrence or applicable for the information included in this Fact.
state a reference to a business process state
place a reference to a relative or absolute location
Payload
value contains the information to be exchanged which can be for example a single measurement,
a specific information structure in JSON or a complete XML message.
Table 21 – Fact class attributes
IR-ES-04 The envelope-attribute content shall be used to specify the data structure of the payload.
How to encode and decode the payload value should be described in the knowledge base
of an Access Point.
IR-ES-05 The timestamp is the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC24), 1 January 1970, compliant to the Unix/POSIX timestamp (ISO 8601).
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

18. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Entities: Create, Search, Update, Delete
You can find entities and depending on your authorization. Get or change their
information. Just like a NoSQL database.
Like a shared NoSQL database
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

19. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Entity API: Create, Search, Update, Delete
iCargo 08.07.2013
E.4 – Function specific specification
The following table gives an overview of all available API-calls.
Objective Method – Path
Inform
Retrieve basic information about Access Point GET /info
Retrieve operational semantic-model GET /semantic-model
Retrieve
Retrieve facts of an entity GET /<index of entity>
Retrieve all relations of a class GET /<collection>/<index of class>
Retrieve all concepts/entities of a class GET /<collection>/<class>
Retrieve information about concept or entity GET /<collection>/<class>/<entity>
Create or action
Add fact(s) to a specific entity directly POST /<index of entity>
Invoke action based on facts-rule(s) POST /<collection>/<class>
Create a new concept POST /<collection>/<class>/<new concept name>
Invoke action based on entity-rule(s) POST /<collection>/<class>/<known entity name>
Change
Update properties of a concept/entity PUT /<index of entity>
Relate entities to a group PUT /<collection>/<class>
Add fact(s) for a specific entity PUT /<collection>/<class>/<entity>
Delete
Remove specific entity + all facts DELETE /<index of entity>
Remove only the facts of a specific entity DELETE /<class>/<entity>
Remove a specific entity DELETE /<collection>/<class>/<entity>
Table 27 – Overview of API calls
The shorthand <AP> will be used for https://<domain> in the following specifications.
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

20. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform
Entity API: Create, Search, Update, Delete
Access points form a P2P network where requests are routed to peer which
hold the entity or service. Only information that you want to share will be
exchanged.
ID={}
GET /<index of entity>
Authentication, to validate the identity
a user or service. It shall be based on
existing open standards and existing
implementations. If authentic, then the
next step is to check authorisation;


21. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Why iCargo
Entity API: Create, Search, Update, Delete
A company has access via their Access Point to the iCargo ecosystem.
Via "your" Access Point you can search for other logistic service
providers and software services.
ID={}
GET /<index of entity>
Routing, to send the incoming information
and requests to the applicable internal or
external services.

22. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Entity API: Create, Search, Update, Delete
Access points form a P2P network where requests are routed to peer which
hold the entity or service. Only information that you want to share will be
exchanged.
ID={}
GET /<index of entity>
Authorisation, to determine who can
access which information. The security
model is described below. If authorised
then the next step is to dispatch the
requested action via routing;



23. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Logistics cloud bus: publish subscribe
---ETA changed---
---

Entities publish can publish and subscribe to channels. For example An LSC
might also declare an interest in ETA and ATA
{
“entity_id” :<entity_id>,
“entity_type” : “GPS sensor” “location_format” :
“GPS”,
“location” : “40.45305, -3.68960”, “update ” :
“20/05/1979 16:45 GMT”,
“time_format” : “DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM”
}
Publish
POST <AP>/entity/<entity_type>/<entity_id>/channel/<channel_id>/publish
Subscribe
GET <AP>/entity/<entity_type>/<entity_id>/channel/<channel_id/subscription

24. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
The role and purpose of a Cooperation
Agreement is crucial and should be
explained first.
Not only contains a Cooperation
Agreement information about
authorisation, also the subscriptions
are defined there too.

25. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
• The Logistic Cloud Bus implements a pub/sub
pattern to allow fully decoupled developments.
• pub/sub mechanism is provided by an AMQP
broker.
• The LCB exposes an interface and SDK to allow
easy developments without caring about AMQP
protocol.
– You just publish and others are subscribed.
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform

26. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
• How to get a channel with the GUI
• Programmatically way
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Create a Channel
Create an entity

27. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
• And then you can do pub/sub over that
channels
Communication between entities

28. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
The virtual service point shall be able to grant
usage or access to a functional domain based
on the identification of an actor and the role of
that actor.

29. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Smart objects: rules
----- -
A rule consists of a condition and a capability to be executed when the
condition is applicable. Some objects can react to events either as simple
filters or triggering business rules based on complex event processing.
WHEN Container.state EQUALS "onTrip" FOLLOWED-BY
Contain
--
er.event EQUALS "door open" AND
(cargo.currentLocation !EQUALS Container.destination) WITHIN 8
hours
ACTION Alert Cargo.logisticServiceProvider
Like the Actor Model + CEP
“NOTIFY logistic service provider WHEN temperature OF tuna IS
ABOVE 7 degrees Celsius”

The rule language is not part of the iCargo specification but may be implemented as
CEP, or a DSL

30. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Registry: business services

31. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Registry: find business services
Registries provide information about participants in the Ecosystem
(companies/access points and their services)
Business Service
description
Organisation
description
iCargo
Registry
provides
contains contains
service
description
service
metadata
organisation
description
organisation
metadata
registry
metadata

32. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Registry: Find companies
Syntax
<PATH TO THE REGISTRY>/business?<CLASSIFICATIONSCHEME>=<VALUE>
Example
To find all companies with UNSPSC Code 78100000 (mail and cargo
transport):
GET icargoregistry.mycompany.com/business?UNSPSC=78100000
*This is likely to return a very large list of companies. The Registry might warn the user about that
and/or return only a subset of the results. It is recommended that further classification (‘filtering’)
is used, for example using geographical coverage criteria.

33. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Registry: Search for business services
Syntax
<PATH TO THE REGISTRY>/service?<CLASSIFICATIONSCHEME>=<VALUE>
Example
To find all services (and their providers) under the UNSPSC classification Code
78100000 (mail and cargo transport):
GET icargoregistry.mycompany.com/service?UNSPSC=78100000

34. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Registry: Get information about a service
Registries provide information about participants in the Ecosystem
(companies/access points and their services)
Syntax
<PATH TO THE REGISTRY>/serviceinfo/<SERVICEID>
*you can query any registry to get information about services even from different registries
Example
Assume express24.dhl.com is a unique identifier for the Express 24 service of DHL. The following
GET icargoregistry.somecompany.com/serviceinfo/express24.dhl.com
Returns information about the service (as an XML, JSON etc.), for example
{“service type” : “courier”,
“Provider id” : “DHL”,
“web site”: “http://www.dhl.com/en/express.html”,
…
}

35. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Benefits of developing for the iCargo
platform
Semantic Gateway: access external systems
A Semantic Gateway is an extension of an Access Point with the capability to translate business
messages into the terminology of the recipient with use of a Semantic model that is specific for
an organisation or the recipient in general.

36. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
iCargo from a developers perspective
36
To offer a direct practical advantage for logistics, the business application Emission
monitoring and the generic components such as the Access Point are also part of the
iCargo base infrastructure.
Figure 2 gives a functional overview of the scope of the iCargo base infrastructure. A
complete overview of all involved software components is listed in section 2.
Figure 2 - Context diagram
The iCargo base infrastructure will be extended as deliverable [D4.3] with business
applications such as “logistic chain composition” and secondary software services to

37. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Stop caring about integrating with different web services,
where information is kept and even who has information.
Instead focus on getting and updating and reacting to
information about entities such as cargo and vehicles
Expose and find business services – logistics, software ….
Decentralized platform for interacting cooperative
services.
Benefits of developing for the iCargo platform

38. iCargo Training Series:
Overcoming the challenges of using multi-modal services www.i-cargo.eu
Ben Hodgson
Senior Scientist – BMT Group
Thank You
38
iCargo Training - 4 June 2013, Zaragoza

39. www.i-cargo.eu
Intelligent Cargo in Efficient and Sustainable
Global Logistics Operations
Credits:
Presented by: Ben Hodgson (BMT Group)
bhodgson@bmtmail.com
Material: Ben Hodgson (BMT Group)