Design and implementation of a global logistic tracking ......SaaS cloud computing infrastructure...

Chen & Chen / Journal of System and Management Sciences Vol. 1 (2011) No.1 100-114

100

Design and implementation of a global logistic

tracking system based on SaaS cloud computing

infrastructure

Shang-Liang Chen1, Yun-Yao Chen

1

1 Institute of Manufacturing Information and Systems, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

infrastructure for industry logistics, which is normally constructed with the

technology of SOA. We then propose a logistic cloud and design with service

pools in it and discuss with some related works and references discussions. In

the last section, we implement a SaaS-based global logistic tracking system

(SGLTS) structure by abstract the web services in service pools in the

Logistic Cloud designed in our research with explanations. Finally, we

describe a typical system design and scenario in a normal logistic

environment with design patterns of it. Logistic transportations in industries

can equipped with different devices such as PCs, tablet PCs, laptops, personal

digital assistants with Wireless LAN, 3G network and GPS facilities can be

able to install the system with different platforms and can access the web

services in the Logistic Cloud that we proposed in our research. Prototype

systems that we implement in this paper can have better interoperability and

reusability than former systems.

Keywords: Service Oriented Architecture, Cloud Computing, Web Service,

Global Logistic Tracking System, Logistic Cloud, SaaS

1. Introduction

Modern logistic enterprises need to exchange their data and information more

effectively and quickly in order to become more competitive in global markets.

According to Moore and Lopes1999, Service Oriented Architecture is a

promising computing paradigm for software in a heterogeneous open

environment and has received some research support(Tsai, 2005). In service

oriented architecture, software systems are built and evolved online by

ISSN 1816-6075 (Print), 1818-0523 (Online)

Journal of System and Management Sciences

Vol. 1 (2011) No. 1, pp. 100-114


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dynamically discovering and binding to the open services, which are accessible

through standard protocols. On the other hand, Wireless communication and

network services have substantially changing the landscape of logistic systems.

Researches have been proposed to show the importance on integration of

logistic built with RFID, GPS, GIS, Zigbee, Web Service technologies and the

Internet(Benaissa & Benabdelhafid, 2007; Zhang et al., 2008; He et al., 2009;

Kim et al., 2009). However, these researches are usually lake the whole

architecture of SOA interacts with web services and their detail management

solutions. In our research, we design and implement a SOA-based global

logistic tracking system with models and interfaces for enterprises to exchange

their data and information more effectively and quickly in order to become more

competitive in global markets.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, we discuss

some related works and references throughout SaaS and SOA-based logistic

systems. In Section 3, we discuss the design and implementation of SGLTS

with an infrastructure of logistic cloud and logistic service pool. We than

discuss the architecture with an overview description of the components and

architecture with design patterns. In section 4, we summarize our works and

sum up the conclusions and future works of this research.

2. Related Works

2.1. SaaS and Service-Oriented Architecture

SaaS cloud computing infrastructure refers to encapsulate some certain

applications into services by adopting SOA interfaces. For example, some

companies provide CRM(Client Relationship Management), HRM(Human

Resource Management), SCM(Supply Chain Management), ERP(Enterprise

Resource Planning) services for industry management systems. However, these

services are seldom applied to industry logistic supported by Langley Jr. (1985).

Some industries even lag behind the other industries on communication and

information technologies(Hertz & Alfredsson, 2003). Current logistic systems

in industry are usually designed case by case, lacking the ability to reuse. With

SOA technology, departments and companies can componentized their own

information and services through abstraction and combination in an

unprecedented way(Deng & Xu, 2009). Using SaaS infrastructure can lower the

cost of development and lower the cost of maintenance(Cao & Zhou, 2009) for

information systems in industries.

In the proposed SGLTS system, we implement the system by design and


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implement several service pools such as Active Push Service Pool (APSP),

Logistics Manage Service Pool (LMSP), User Manage Service Pool (UMSP)

and GIS Manage Service Pool (GMSP). According to the research of Curbera

(2002), the interface of web services are defined and described using XML

(Extensible Markup Language) and is identified by a URI (Uniform Resource

Identifier, provided in About XML(2011). A URI is a compact sequence of

characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource, provided in Uniform

Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax (2005). Web services can be

interoperable with agreement on following standards as XML, SOAP, WSDL,

and UDDI. UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration) is a

standard for web services to register and publish services available to users

discussed in UDDI.ORG(UDDI.ORG 2001). WSDL (Web Services Description

Language), which is an XML format for describing network services as a set of

endpoints operating on messages containing either document-oriented or

procedure-oriented information clarified by Christensen et al.(2011). SOA

defines a base communication protocol for users to exchange XML data. The

GLTS SOA model of Web service-aware TPC and PC in our system interact

with the Web Service provider and the Web Service Register is shown as Fig. 1,

which can have numerous advantages according to the research of YIN et

al.2002 is describe as below:

(1) It enables handset manufacturers to rapidly deploy Internet solutions build

on open standards.

(2) It makes applications more dynamic as they can invoke different services

or service implementations based on the user’s context.

(3) It facilities the interoperability and integrate with enterprise applications

and applications running on other wireless devices.

There are three main characters shown in the web service model (Figure 1),

describing as follows:

(1) Service Provider: A Service Provider uses WSDL to describe the function,

input, output interface in a service object.

(2) Service Requester: a Service Requester request for the connection from

service provider by the information published by service register.

(3) Service Register: Service Register provides a place for service provider to

post their services and provides a place for service requester to find the services

they need.


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Service

Register

Service

Requester

Service

Provider

Find

service

Service

response

Bind service

Service response

Service

publish

Service PoolsPC TPC

Logistic

Company

Logistic

Transportations

Logistic

Center

Fig. 1: SOA model of SGLTS.

2.2. Logistic System Based on SaaS

Z. Jing et al. proposed a logistic system based on SOA and proposed a solution

named Logistics Resource Sharing Grid (LRSG), which is an advanced solution

for the bottleneck of network logistics. The paper proposed a service-oriented

architecture based LRSG is suggested, which validates the resource sharing and

business collaboration in the LRSG. The model (Zhang et al., 2002) is

composed of 5 models and the model is shown as figure 2 and described as

follows:

(1) LRSG Infrastructure layer:

This layer abstracts different information infrastructures into a uniform

logical entity by using OGSA Grid foundation framework and Grid middleware

and masks differences brought by heterogeneous platforms.

(2) LRSG Resource layer:

This Layer refines and optimizes the Grid Infrastructure layer. The paper

developed four customized grid services, namely Task Management Service

(TMS), Resource Management Service (RMS), Business Collaboration

Management Service (BCMS), and Security Management (SM).

(3) LRSG Service layer:

This layer is the core layer of LRSG, it can access and manipulate different

kinds of logistics resources in the basic layer through standard OGSI Grid

service interface.

(4) LRSG Application layer:

This layer includes three modules namely Task Decomposing Service (TDS),

Task Scheduler Service (TSS), and Computer Supported Collaborative Business


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(CSCB).

Fig. 2: SOA based LRSG architecture.

According to this structure, we can refer that the independent environment of

LRSG has benefits for SOA-based applications deployment. The proposed

system of LRSG is based on GT (Globus Toolkit), which is usually used in grid

environments, providing services a platform to exchange. It may lake the

efficiency of development due to the services in GT usually needs to implement

separately for different grid nodes. Although the SOA-based models of the

research seem to be complete, the implementation results of the systems need to

be satisfied.

L. Zhang et al. (2006) describes a general design for the integration of

distributed logistics information system based on service-oriented architecture

(SOA) and enterprise service bus (ESB). An ESB gives a tool and an

infrastructure facilitating implementation of the SOA structure. The author

proposed a SOA model for the system in the research (Figure 3). In this model,

all the services are stored in services warehouse for reuse purpose. Although the

proposed model in the paper can briefly describe the idea of logistics

information system, the model is not complete satisfied the whole structure of

SOA infrastructure.


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Fig. 3: SOA model for logistics information system.

3. Design and Implementation of SGLTS

3.1. Architecture of Logistic Cloud

This study is based on the principle of SOA, which exchange by the data type of

XML. We implement the SGLTS system with a private cloud computing

architecture based on 4 layers, shown as figure 5 named as Logistic Cloud. The

architecture is constructed with 4 layers as Resource Pool Layer (RPL),

Middleware Layer (ML) and SOA Architecture layer (SAL) and is described as

below:

(1) Physical Resource Layer:

The structure of PRL is responsible for data storage and software/hardware

infrastructure; include computer, database, network equipment, storage,

software etc. We setup physical resource environment with five individual

servers for five service pools. Figure 4 shows the hardware used to implement

Logistic Cloud.

Fig. 4: The hardware used to implement Logistic Cloud.


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(2) Resource Pool Layer:

RPL integrated by some existed type sources and web services into service

pools such as Active Push Service Pool (APSP), Logistics Manage Service Pool

(LMSP), Container Manage Service Pool (CMSP), User Manage Service Pool

(UMSP), and GIS Manage Service Pool (GMSP) for enterprises and clients to

access through SOA standard protocol. Services can be abstract by system

developers with different platforms when designing applications. Services in

service pools are describe in table 1.

Table 1: The description of service pools in the Logistic Cloud.

No. Service

pool

Description

1 APSP APSP provides pushing service and pushing content management

service for enterprise systems a common interface to use functions

such as SMS push and Email push.

2 LMSP LMSP provides logistic pallet inventory service and logistic pallet

monitoring service for logistic departments in enterprises to access

logistic data and to inventory pallets with common protocol and data

type, which may enhance their ability to exchange data.

3 CMSP CMSP provides Zigbee container monitoring service and container

manage service for enterprise to centralize manage the container

information in common protocols. Container security can be

enhanced by access the services in CMSP to control the monitoring

Zigbee devices deployed on the container.

4 UMSP UMSP provides enterprise a common manage platform to enhance

the manage ability of user and staff management. Use information

can be exchanged between different departments more precisely and

efficiently due to common interfaces.

5 GMSP GMSP integrate the existing Google Maps API as services such as

Google Maps positioning service and GIS information manage

service. This service pool provides transportation with devices to

access certain service to automatically report its location.

Enterprises can real-time track the pallets and cargo by access the

services in GMSP to enhance the transport progress.

(3) Middleware Layer:

ML is responsible for handling tasks such as User Management (UM), Task

Management (TM), Resource Management (RM), and Security Management

(SM). User Management is an indispensable task to implement the business

model in cloud computing, including user management, user environment

deploying, user data exchange and management, and user log; Task

Management is responsible for execute and manage applications request by

users, including call service task, execute service task, service lifecycle

management, service deploy and management.

(4) SOA Architecture Layer:

SAL provides the ability for our system to encapsulate our cloud computing

into standard functions such as service connection, service enroll, service


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searching, service visiting, service scheduling. In common develop environment,

the key technology are the ML and RPL. The SAL is commonly handled by

develop environments. As the clients ask for certain data in the inner part of the

databases through SOA protocol in SAL, the ML will handle the service

acquisition tasks and security issues.

Middleware Layer

User Authorization

Visit Authorization

System Protection

Information Security

Monitoring

Security

ManagementUser ManagementUser

Management

User Environment

Deploying

User Exchange and

ManagementUser Log

Task

ManagementCall Service Task

Execute Service

Task

Service Lifecycle

Management

Service Deployment

and Management

Cloud Server Load-

Balancing

Cloud Server Remote

Backup & Disaster

Recovery

Resource

Management

Cloud Server

Hardware/Software

Monitoring

Cloud Server Detection

and Maintenance

Resource

Pool Layer

SOA Architecture Layer

Service Connection Service Enroll Service Searching Service Visiting Service Scheduling

Enterprise

Software

Enterprise

Database

Enterprise

Network DevicePhysical

Resource Layer

Enterprise

Computer

Enterprise

Storage

Active Information

Pushing Service

Pushing Content

Management Service

Active Push

Service Pool

Active/Passive RFID

Pallet Inventory Service

Logistics and Pallet

Monitoring Service

Logistics Manage

Service Pool

Zigbee Container

Monitoring Service

Zigbee Container

Management Service

Container Manage

Service Pool

User Management

Service

User Authorization

Service

User Manage

Service Pool

Goolge Maps

Positioning Services

GIS Management

Service

GIS Manage

Service Pool

Fig. 5: Architecture of Logistic Cloud.

3.2. A Scenario Example of SGLTS

To illustrate the SGLTS for construction industry applications, a SGLTS

prototype of logistic scenario with workflow (figure 6) is proposed with flow

description to demonstrate the potential of SGLTS to facilitate communication

among construction project participants, and to integrate distributed web

applications and systems for construction project management. The scenario

demonstrates the integration of industrial applications and transportation

equipped devices interact with service pools developed in our research are

describe as below:

(1) First, deploy UHF RFID readers with computers alone industry gates then

connect the computer to the Logistic Cloud through the Internet.

(2) Pallets can automatically inventory by using inventory services while

exporting/importing to the industry. The inventory data saved in the databases

of the Logistic Cloud by accessing data manage service.


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(3) The inventoried pallets will be transport to cooperate industries. The

transportation vehicles will be equipped with portable devices to return GIS

information of their position. The information can be automatically updated to

databases in the Logistic Cloud and servers through 3G network provided by

ISP.

Decision makers can access the logistic process information with difference

platforms in order to make final decisions.

Fig. 6: SGLTS prototype of logistic scenario with workflows.

We selected GPS receiver module shown in Figure 7 and the device equipped

with the logistic transportation shown in Figure 8 for our global logistic tracking

system. We implement web services for logistic tracking, combined with

Google Maps API for GIS service.

Fig. 7: GPS receiver module.


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Fig. 8: The description of service pools in the Logistic Cloud.

To illustrate the SGLTS for construction industry applications, two example

implementation results we developed in our paper are shown in the following

sections. The first example is a SGLTS sub-system scenario for pallet inventory.

Second one is a SGLTS sub-system scenario for global logistic tracking, which

are describe as below. We proposed two models by using the tool of UML Use

Case Model to illustrate the concepts of the two implementation results.

(1) Implementation of pallet inventory sub-system:

The use case model of pallet inventory sub-system is shown in figure 9. All

the departments (decision maker, manager, delivery person) in industries can

access the private services through the cloud database we established. Figure 10

shows the system interface of pallet inventory sub-system.

Global Linguistic Tracking System

Management

RFID Scanning

Product Data Modify

Deliver Person Delivery Reporting

Position

State Note Quantity

Logistics Data Maintaining

Sub-SystemUser Login

Receiver

Logistics Tracking Sub-

System

Logistics Data

Management Sub-

System

SMS/Email Push

<<Update>>

<<Receive>>

<<Incl

ude>

>

Fig. 9: Use case model of pallet inventory sub-system.


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Fig. 10: System interface of pallet inventory sub-system.

The functions of pallet inventory sub-system are for consisted of following

functions listed as below:

Pallet Inventory

Goods Inventory

Pallet/goods export

Pellet/goods export histories

(2) Implementation of global logistic tracking sub-system:

The use case model of global logistic tracking sub-system is shown as figure

11. All the departments (decision maker, manager, delivery person) in industries

can access the private services through the cloud database we established.

Figure 12 shows the system interface of global logistic tracking sub-system.


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Global Linguistic Tracking System (Mobile-

Based)

Logistic Reporting Sub-

System

Road Guidance and

Condition Reporting Sub-

System

Weather Condition Reporting

Sub-System

Instutute of Transportation

Central Weather Bureau

User Login

<<Include>>

Mobile-Based System

Weather Report

Road Report

Logistic Information

Deliver Person

Fig. 11: Use case model of global logistic tracking sub-system.

Fig. 12: System interface of global logistic tracking sub-system.

The functions of global logistic tracking sub-system are for consisted of

following functions listed as below:


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Logistic route planning and tracking

Pallet/goods on transportation listing

Transportation information Email/SMS pushing

Road/weather condition display

4. Conclusion

The biggest advantage of service-oriented architecture is to provide a strong

support for enterprise applications integration. In this paper, we prototype the

service oriented architecture of our research and propose the service pools for

our system implementation scenarios with some related works and references.

The proposed SGLTS architecture and model aimed to fulfil the requirements,

which are (1) ease of installation and configuration, (2) low cost, (3) ease of

connection and integration, (4) customizable access to other applications. We

describe the typical design implementation scenarios and design patterns of our

system which logistic transportations can equipped with different devices with

different platforms such as PCs, tablet PCs, laptops, personal digital assistants

with Wireless LAN, 3G network and GPS facilities to access the web services

we proposed in our system. Pallets can be inventoried by abstract services in the

Logistic Cloud. Cross-platform concepts can be satisfied when system engineers

to develop applications based on the Logistic Cloud.

Acknowledgements

This work is funded by National Science Council of the Republic of China,

Taiwan under grant NSC- 99-2221-E-006-176-.

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Design and implementation of a global logistic tracking ......SaaS cloud computing infrastructure...

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