Honeywell has launched the Connected Freight solution, a logistics technology that provides real-time information about the location and condition of critical freight in transit.

Connected Freight is designed to give shippers and logistics companies the ability to monitor high-value and perishable shipments to prevent damage or loss. The technology was developed in collaboration with Intel and three third-party logistics companies: DHL, Expeditors, and Kuehne + Nagel.

"Honeywell is developing a range of Connected Supply Chain solutions that leverage technology and data to make supply chains more efficient and better able to adapt to rapid change," said Taylor Smith, president of Honeywell's Workflow Solutions business. "For shippers, logistics providers, retailers and others faced with a host of costly freight challenges, such as theft, damage, spoilage and delays, this convenient cloud-based solution provides customers with detailed analytics in order to plan, anticipate and react immediately to incidents that occur during shipment."

The Connected Freight solution consists of sensor tags that sense a range of environmental conditions, such as temperature and vibration. The tags can be attached to pallets or individual packages. The sensor data is then captured by a mobile gateway placed inside a truck or shipping container and transmitted over a cellular network to a cloud-based platform.

Users can set alerts based on temperature, shock, tilt, humidity, pressure, and intrusion detection. It can alert manufacturers of high-value or highly sensitive technology if the equipment has been damaged while being loaded or unloaded, or if it may have been stolen. The cloud can store data for compliance and audit needs and provide predictive and reactive analysis, such as which routes to avoid.