Case Study

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
IMPROVING PROCESS AUTOMATION THROUGH SERVER SPECIALIZATION

The United States Postal Service® (USPS) is the world’s leading mail services provider. An independent federal agency, the USPS visits more than 144 million homes and businesses every day, standing as the only mail service provider that delivers to every address in the nation. In performing these services the U.S. Postal Service handles the delivery of more than 44 percent of the world’s mail volume - equivalent to 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year. The organization services some ten million customers daily and operates 37,000 nationwide retail locations in it’s efforts to support the United States mail service.

CHALLENGE
To increase the reliability of the mail sorting process, the USPS needed to upgrade the cameras and accompanying computing systems, known as the Wide Area Barcode Readers (WABCR). Housed in automated letter-sorting machines, the WABCR was used to capture and read the visual image of each mail piece and then route the item into the an appropriate outgoing mail bin. However, as a result of outdated technology and product wear-and-tear, the aging WABCR systems could no longer efficiently accomplish their task. Thus, the USPS needed project engineers to develop a specialized computing platform that would address a multitude of technological and business challenges as well as lead USPS operations into the next-generation of mail sorting process automation.

Due to the challenging environments found in mail sorting facilities, the proposed camera and it’s supporting computing system needed to address several environmental challenges which plague the operations of the nation’s bulk-mail sorting centers. During the mail sorting process airborne dust particles accumulate, impeding the cooling of the camera’s computing unit, resulting in the premature failure of the machines. Compounding this, the computing equipment is housed in a confined space where temperatures exceed 100o Fahrenheit. Given these conditions, the deployment of solutions offering traditional computing platforms was not practical since these lack the ability to appropriately respond to the necessary cooling and cleaning requirements.

Another technological issue was developing a computing unit that would function within the vibration intensive environments of the USPS mail sorting facilities. The sorting machines are in constant movement as they sift through up to 40,000 pieces of mail per hour, subjecting the servers to heavy vibration. Traditional server platforms lack the ability to perform reliably while in surroundings such as this. The proposed solution needed to be specially engineered for high performance and superior effectiveness in vibrationintensive environments. Beyond the presented technological challenges, the USPS also needed to address several business issues associated with improving the aging WABCR system. A major goal of the agency was to support revenue protection initiatives, while also enhancing the development of the USPS Information Platform.

This objective required a solution that could improve mail sorting efficiency by scanning and sorting letters, flats and packages at 3.5 pieces per second. As the units are in operation across the numerous USPS markets, the systems needed to be manufactured with great levels of consistency, ensuring that troubleshooting and rehabilitation procedures could be determined quickly, yet precisely and executed in the same way on
each unit. The new system proposal called for a rigorous configuration management program that engineered computing platforms that fit an original specification and ensuring each consecutive deployment employs the same hardware, drivers and other ground level-components.

SOLUTION
SteelCloud, in conjunction with prime contractor Lockheed Martin, developed a specialized platform that withstands the challenging environments in the USPS sorting facilities. This new solution - Wide Field of View (WFOV) - produced not only a more effective camera unit, but it also offered a more robust computing platform that features a specialized chassis format - addressing issues of air filtration, and heat dissipation, and vibration.

To confront the air cleaning and cooling concerns faced with the out-dated camera system, the WFOV computing platform boasts SteelCloud’s patent pending Positive Pressure Filtration (PPF) design. With this new design the WFOV computing units force filtered air into the chassis rather than pull the air through. This new process utilizes a three step approach that increases the reliability of the server platforms that drive the cameras. First, the chassis employs the use of front bezel loaded intake fans. The chassis layout forces air to enter the chassis solely from the specified intake areas, thus eliminating the possibility of air passing through unfiltered openings. Second, the chassis front is covered with a dense particle-sifting magnetic filter. As air is pulled into the chassis by the intake fans it is channeled through the filter material, which sifts the air down to a granular level, trapping particles as small as 30 microns. This dust-free air is then disbursed over the unit’s internal components. Finally, the purified air is pushed out of the chassis rear, which is fully ventilated to allow for mass air expulsion. This single ingress, single egress design allows for one front air entry point and one rear air exhaust with no recirculation or ‘preheating’ of the air prior to cooling the components, thus producing a more effective cooling scheme.

The WFOV solution further enhances the capabilities of the PPF equipped chassis by incorporating shock-mounted components. The shock-proofed elements are encapsulated within a form-fitting chassis, allowing the system platform to function at high levels of vibration without sacrificing the reliability necessary for continuous performance. In addition, the chassis also employs card placement mechanisms that are utilized in both the shipment and operation of the servers to prevent card components from becoming displaced due to shock and vibration.

To ensure reliability throughout the lifecycle, SteelCloud augmented the development of the WFOV computing platform with it’s suite of value-added services, including engineering, manufacturing and program services. SteelCloud’s full range of services provided a targeted, closed-loop solution development program that lead to the deployment of high quality computing products. For example, SteelCloud imposed strict configuration management guidelines throughout the lifecycle of the program. These guidelines ensured an exceptionally high level of consistency between units – right down to the component and firmware level. The effect of this is to enhance reliability and make the units easier to support.

As a result of SteelCloud’s superior configuration management, the USPS was offered an unprecedented 5-year product warranty on all WFOV computing platforms. This comprehensive warranty went substantially beyond the traditional 1- 2 year product guarantee. It leveraged the high-quality system design and unique chassis design to minimize the need for product refurbishment and rehabilitation and yielded significant cost savings for the USPS.

RESULTS
The Wide Field of View solution succeeded in solving the technological and business problems hindering the productivity of USPS image capturing units. SteelCloud and Lockheed Martin have jointly deployed 12,000 camera systems to more than 1,600 Postal Service locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam. As such, WFOV technology is facilitating a more accurate mail sorting process and greater system reliability.

With the assistance of SteelCloud, the Lockheed Martin WFOV project reached ROI at six months, rather than in the projected 36 month timeframe. In addition, the USPS performance metrics were attained – leading the agency to improved postal read rates and increased operational efficiency. Overall, SteelCloud’s engineering expertise and specialized offerings have lead to over 100 million hours of operation in the challenging environments prevalent in USPS bulk mail centers.