Managing your supply chain is getting a little easier every day, thanks in large part to advances in sensor technology.
Global demand for sensors is on the rise, especially in logistics, where the market was valued at $10.5 billion in 2024 and is set to reach $25.8 billion by 2033. That’s according to data from research and consulting firm Verified Market Reports, which points to the rising adoption of advanced sensors for real-time tracking and condition monitoring of equipment and inventory as major industry benefits.
Recent developments in the technology are also helping companies improve the efficiency, accuracy, and security of their supply chains as well—a vital move as organizations attempt to manage the uncertainty and disruption that has become an everyday part of supply chain management. An inventory project by retail giant Walmart and a recent market expansion by a transportation industry security startup show just how powerful sensors are in logistics—and underscore their growth potential into the next decade.
“AMBIENT IoT” MAKES WAVES
A new wave of technology is working in the background to turn ordinary environments, and even processes, into smart, connected ones. It’s called ambient IoT, a technology that embeds tiny sensors into everyday objects and surroundings to measure a variety of conditions—movement, temperature, humidity, light, and so forth. In logistics, the technology allows companies to continuously transmit data about products as they move through the supply chain.
“Instead of tracking assets at specific checkpoints, ambient IoT enables product-level visibility across environments—using battery-free or ultra-low-power tags, cloud intelligence, and infrastructure that is already in place,” according to IoT technology solutions company Wiliot, which recently launched a large-scale deployment of its ambient IoT technology with Walmart.
Millions of Wiliot’s IoT “Pixel” sensing devices are being applied to pallets of goods moving through Walmart’s supply chain, providing real-time insight into the company’s inventory at warehouses, in distribution centers, and in stores. The Pixels are postage stamp-sized computing devices, or tags, that power themselves without batteries by harvesting radio waves. Applied to the exterior of each pallet, the tags generate information that feeds Walmart’s AI (artificial intelligence) systems—delivering real-time, item-level data that helps Walmart know exactly what merchandise it has and where that merchandise is at any moment.
“With Walmart, we are advancing supply chain performance at an unprecedented scale,” Tal Tamir, Wiliot’s CEO, said in a statement announcing the partnership. “This nationwide deployment adds a new layer of digitization to Walmart’s supply chain, empowering associates with real-time insights and automation that drive greater efficiency, accuracy, and responsiveness. It’s a testament to the power of ambient IoT and artificial intelligence to help retailers operate smarter, move faster, and deliver stronger outcomes for their business, their associates, and their customers.”
The collaborative solution was deployed across 500 Walmart locations last year and is being rolled out nationally this year. The rollout will cover 4,600 Walmart Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and more than 40 distribution centers, according to Wiliot.
The partners will track 90 million pallets through the system by the end of the year, according to Wiliot’s vice president, Amir Khoshniyati.
By late last year, the project was already bearing fruit: Real-time asset tracking has meant that employees no longer have to perform manual cycle counts in stores, warehouses, or DCs. And the enhanced visibility is helping Walmart associates resolve inventory problems quickly, which ensures smoother operations and better customer experiences.
Khoshniyati explains that as the pallets are tracked, Wiliot provides intel through its AI-enabled platform on the state of each pallet as it moves through the supply chain. He offers an example: “If a pallet is sitting idle too long, [our system] can flag that the items [on the pallet] may [include] perishables and should be sent to a cold storage [area].”
That level of insight gives Walmart greater control over its supply chain operations.
“At Walmart, technology is in service of people—both our customers and our associates,” says Greg Cathey, Walmart’s senior vice president of transformation and innovation. “With Wiliot’s ambient IoT technology, coupled with our AI systems, we’re not only optimizing our supply chain to make faster, smarter inventory decisions, but we’re also tackling one of the hardest problems in retail—knowing exactly what we own and where it is at any given moment. This enhanced visibility helps us deliver the consistent value, quality, and experience our customers expect—and that’s what drives us every day.”
ROADSIDE SENSOR NETWORK GAINS STEAM
Sensors are also hard at work keeping supply chains safe and secure. In February, logistics technology startup GenLogs announced a $60 million funding round that will help the company expand its network of roadside sensors that track commercial vehicle patterns across the United States. The funding will help GenLogs continue building its Trucking Intelligence platform, which tracks fleet movements to ensure that shipments are safely on the way to their destination. The company counts logistics and supply chain services firm J.B. Hunt, trucking company Werner Enterprises, insurer AIPSO, and the Jacksonville Port Authority among its **ital{Fortune} 500 client base and said it plans to expand its services to shippers and others.
“The trillion-dollar trucking industry links every sector of our economy, but it is highly fragmented in its composition and still analog in its operations,” Ryan Joyce, a former CIA officer who co-founded GenLogs in 2023 and serves as CEO, said in a statement announcing the funding round. “GenLogs is applying many aspects of the U.S. intelligence community’s playbook to drive total visibility in the trucking industry, resulting in more efficiency, better pricing, and protection against fraud and $35 billion in annual cargo theft.”
GenLogs leverages trillions of data points collected from millions of satellites and sensors—including cameras that sit on roadside infrastructure and at ports nationwide that capture real-time data on trucks. The company then applies proprietary AI to expose patterns that allow customers to conduct better carrier sourcing, vetting, and underwriting. GenLogs explains that by understanding the true movements of a fleet, customers can verify that those patterns match the carrier’s digital footprint.
“This intelligence ensures that customers know the carriers they’re using are real and running on the roads with the right equipment,” according to the company.
GenLogs’ sensor network extends from coast to coast and from the northern border to the southern border. The series B funding will allow the company to expand to Canada and Mexico as well, according to Joyce.
“Mexican and Canadian companies have asked us to expand our network into those countries [because they have] the same problems there,” Joyce said in an interview with **{DC Velocity.}
Joyce said the company set up its first set of sensors in Mexico this winter and will do so in Canada later this year.
GenLogs says it uses a three-step privacy filter to ensure that its cameras collect data only on commercial vehicles. The technology deletes any footage of private vehicles before screening for commercial markings, such as a USDOT number, and blurs the vehicle’s windows to prevent biometric person identification. GenLogs captures about 15 million images of trucks per day, Joyce said.
And the technology’s benefits extend beyond securing shipments once they’ve left the warehouse. GenLogs has worked with federal and state law enforcement over the past year to combat human trafficking, cargo theft, and narcotics smuggling. In one case, state law enforcement used GenLogs to track a truck engaged in interstate sex trafficking and ultimately recovered a female minor from the truck. In another case, a counter-narcotics agency was able to use GenLogs’ platform to uncover a drug smuggling network and ultimately raid multiple safehouses, resulting in a dozen arrests.
The technology underscores both the rising value of sensors in logistics and the important role the freight industry plays in the broader economy.
“In a remarkably short time, GenLogs has developed a novel data set of great commercial and prosocial value,” says GenLog board member Marcus Ryu, general partner at Battery Ventures, which led the funding round. “Informed by their intelligence training, Ryan and his co-founders had the insight to recognize that the mission-critical work of multiple industries could be transformed by an incorruptible ground truth on nationwide trucking operations and freight movement.”
