IoT-enabled Smart Food Supply Chain: Strengthening Food Security by Data-driven Optimization, Simulation, and Interactive Decision-Making Tools

Project: Applied Research

Project Details

Abstract

Overview: The overall overarching objective of this project is to improve food security by developing smart and robust food supply chain for the locally produced food in Qatar. Fundamental knowledge of food supply chain will be advanced by leveraging Internet of Things, data-oriented simulation, optimization, real-time interaction, and data analytics. Currently, less than 10% of the food consumed in Qatar is produced within the country; the rest is imported, leaving an agricultural trade deficit of approximately $1.5 billion. As Qatar devotes to increase food self-sufficiency by promoting local food production, the food supply chain needs to be able to quickly respond to the increasing amount of locally produced food, new local food productions, the ever-changing market needs, and the dynamics in the supply chain processes. A smart and robust food supply chain is needed to ensure that both locally produced food and imported food can be delivered at the right time, as well as the availability, affordability, quality, and nutritional and economic value of food. In addition to accommodating Qatar’s population, the food supply chain should be extremely robust as the country prepares to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, providing accommodation for more than 1.5 million people for the Qatar World Cup. The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) technology opens up exciting new possibilities for bringing intelligence, transparency, responsiveness, and robustness to the food supply chain. This project will integrate data-oriented method, simulation method, and mathematical optimization. Based on well-designed surveys and systematic data collection, an IoT-enabled database will be established. By a suite of data analytics methods, we will have a deep look into the bottleneck and future trends of food supply chain in Qatar. The effective integration of simulation and optimization will be developed to enhance the performance. Multi-agent simulation model will be built to simulate the supply chain in real-time manner in response to the ever-changing demand. Agent-based simulation technologies enable various optimization objectives for various agents, and thus can achieve an overall goal by having a central manager agent. Data from all stages of the supply chain – suppliers, transportation, manufacturers, distribution centers, consumers, etc. – will be connected seamlessly by IoT and serve as input to the simulation. The availability of such data, coupled with data analytics methods, enables the optimization of supply chain operations towards responsiveness. Based on the simulation model, various scenarios with possible future events can be simulated, based on which the optimal strategic storage plans and emergency distribution plans can be determined. Scientific Objectives and Innovations: Specific research objectives include: (1) Understand the current state of Qatar food supply chain by collecting data and establishing an IoT-based database; (2) Develop a multi-agent simulation model, coupled with optimization and real-time updating, for the food supply chain; (3) Analyze the cost, quality, and accessibility of food in current and future environments, which will be used to determine policy programs and recommendations to ensure the optimized operations of smart and robust food supply chain; (4) Analyze the vulnerability of food supply chain by modeling its risks and consequences, which will be used to enhance the supply chain robustness through designing the optimal strategic storage plans together with emergency distribution plans. The distinctive scientific merits of the proposed research can be manifested in several aspects. First, the created IoT-based supply chain will provide a new tool and an innovative perspective to understand the evolving food supply chain and to make the supply chain operations transparent for system optimization and better food security. Second, it will advance the basic understanding of mechanisms of smart and robust food supply chain, especially for a country with rapidly changing self-sufficiency and market needs. Last, the integration of simulation, optimization, and data analytics will improve the efficiency of supply chain design and redesign to quickly adapt to changes in technology and market. Expected Impacts: The IoT-enabled approach offers a radical paradigm change from traditional segmented supply chain operations to seamless, integrated supply chain for high-resilience and high-responsiveness to improve food security, impacting the livelihoods of the population in Qatar. It will set an innovative case to overcome the limits of traditional supply chain and unleash the great potentials of IoT in reducing cost and waste while ensuring the quality and accessibility of food. As the supply chain network may be shared among various industry sectors, the method developed in this project will be transferable to other sectors, making a wide spectrum of impacts on many other industrial sectors as well. Moreover, this project will help achieving one of the strategic pillars of the Qatar National Food Security Strategy in the State of Qatar to bring transparency and efficiency in the food supply chain to ensure fair commercial practices for all value chain stakeholders, reduced waste in the supply chain, and better food quality for end-consumers. Finally, the knowledge gained in this project will be disseminated in workshops, conferences, and publications to make a profound impact on training the next generation of digital and supply chain decision-makers.

Submitting Institute Name

Qatar University
Sponsor's Award NumberMME02-1004-200041
Proposal IDEX-QNRF-MME-4
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/11/211/11/24

Primary Theme

  • Sustainability

Primary Subtheme

  • SU - Sustainable / Circular Economy

Secondary Theme

  • Sustainability

Secondary Subtheme

  • SU - Resource Security & Management

Keywords

  • Food supply chains, Resilience & robustness
  • Optimization, Simulation & modeling
  • Food security

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