Monitoring and assessing fruit freshness in IOT-based e-commerce delivery using scenario analysis and interval number approaches

We are concerned with the monitoring and assessment of in-transit fruit freshness in e-commerce deliveries. After comparing the fulfillment processes of fresh fruit transportation in traditional retailing and e-retailing, we formulate an Internet of Things-based framework for monitoring fruit e-commerce deliveries. Based on the fulfillment operations and monitoring modules of the framework, we propose an approach based on a two-stage scenario for assessing the freshness of in-transit fruits. In the first stage, we use a learning-by doing mechanism to develop a scenario construction method to automatically obtain the most appropriate delivery environment and the occurrence probability for each scenario. In the second stage, we integrate the interval comparison technique into the scenario analysis method to address the freshness assessment of in-transit fruits. The effectiveness and advantages of our approach are verified using numerical simulations. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.