Milestones in a project are important hurdles toward an objective. Milestones also keep us focused on future activities rather than having a “recency bias”, meaning that recent events can impact decisions, often in an unrealistic manner. Think of going for an ocean swim after watching the movie JAWS. Although there’s not actually any more risk, the scenes in the movie certainly intensify your fear and cloud your judgements. So, we need milestones to anchor the nodes of progress.
In October of 2023, the Bloodhound Tracking Device (BTD) and its supporting team of technicians and engineers achieved major milestones. First, the prototype device completed its initial testing and evaluation. The testing was successful in providing real-time, in-transit visibility and proved that it could capture and communicate events such as door-opening and light-sensor triggers. The device is now entering into the design for production stage with sea-trial units expected to be delivered for ocean carrier testing in early 2024.
Secondly, on October 2023, BTD the United States Transportation Command’s Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA) selected BTD to enter into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for their in-transit visibility program This formal written agreement (when completed and approved by USTRANSCOM and BTD’s Board) will result in inputs from various agencies related to the development of the device to meet the demands of global missions for defense and security, and will provide USTRANSCOM with new levels of supply chain security and automatic/organic in-transit visibility. Seeking new attributes that match up to their risk and threats will drive the engineers and technicians who work on the Bloodhound Tracking Device to pursue higher levels of IT security, broader capabilities to capture and report data on location, loads and piece counts within the conveyance and enhancements of sensors and sniffers to counter threats outside those faced in the commercial trade.
In early 2024, USTRANSCOM and BTD staff will meet to seek mutual agreements on the terms of the research and development project. Milestones such as this create a foundation for authentication and validation that this new device and (patented) technology is needed to secure cargo in transit globally for both military and agency utilization as well as for commercial trace security and visibility. BTD will deliver on both in the near future.
These two milestones are the keys for future success and predict the utility of the BTD Tracker in providing both automatic in-transit visibility and reliable proof of integrity of cargo and conveyance, in near real time, anywhere in the world. This would be the first time these attributes could be deployed across global supply chains as they do not currently exist within any current portal or device.
