Real-Time Monitoring System for Efficiency and Cost Analysis of Forest Energy Biomass Transportation

The purpose of the study was to determine the efficiency and costs of energy biomass transportations, when using a conventional monitoring system linked with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. In the study, truck-specific transportation monitoring was carried out with the help of a real-time web-based monitoring system. Both smart phones and reader gates were used for data transfer into the system with a wireless Internet connection. The experiments were carried out along the forest chip transportation from the forest roadside storages to the power plant by using either traditional solid-frame trucks or a truck with interchangeable containers. All the delivery containers were mounted with RFID tags. Afterwards, the statistics of the loads and the delivery performance ratio of the transportations were analysed. Additionally, the cost structures for the alternative truck and trailer combination were analysed and their unit costs were determined. Also, the functionality and the reliability of the real-time monitoring system were examined as a part of the demanding roadside chipping chain. The total number of the loads was 68 during the follow-up period. The container truck system was found to be as cost-efficient as the solid-frame truck systems. This paper demonstrates that RFID enables the tracking of the trucks on a real-time basis through the delivery chain, and that the data can be used to analyse the vehicle-specific time usage and the unit costs of deliveries.