Space technology helps find space, reduce pollution, and save money     The ubigrate Load-Volume Tracking (LoVoTrack) system consists of ultrasonic sensors, mobile communication and satellite navigation to determine the load status of lorries and containers. Sensors in the ceiling of each container continuously measure the available empty volume. This information, together with the precise satellite navigation data of where the lorry is located, is transmitted via the common cellular phone network to a central server that follows the whole fleet in the transportation company. It is then easy to assign new packages to available volume. A better service with the help of satellites     German company ubigrate's Load-Volume Tracking (LoVoTrack) system locates empty space in lorries to use load capacity better. The result is displayed on a monitor to help the shipping company improve the allocation of goods.   Dr Jürgen Anke and Dr Mario Neugebauer from the Germany company ubigrate GmbH came up with an intelligent solution named LoVoTrack to use satellites to allot lorry capacity better, and won the T-Systems/DHL prize at the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2008, backed by ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme. From left: Thorsten Rudolph (Managing Director of Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen, organiser of the European Satellite Navigation Competition), Ulrike Daniels (Project Manager at Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen), Jürgen Anke (ubigrate GmbH), Mario Neugebauer (ubigrate GmbH), Ralf Nejedl (Head of Galileo Programme at T-Systems) and Dr Keith Ulrich (Head of DHL Innovation Center).   A transportation company can easily locate empty space in their lorry fleet on a overview map, by use of the LoVoTrack system from the German company ubigrate. The system is under final development at DHL Innovation Centre in Germany. Release date: 2 November 2009