Smart Shipping Container Security and Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current shipping technologies lack real-time monitoring and security features, leading to potential loss, theft, and damage of packages during transit, especially for fragile or perishable items, and do not offer flexible delivery options independent of traditional shipping services.
Innovation Solution
Smart containers equipped with electronic, mechanical, and communications components that enable real-time monitoring, autonomous action, and secure delivery, using sensors, actuators, and communication protocols to ensure packages are handled and delivered to authorized recipients, and can operate independently of traditional shipping services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional shipping services are used, then packages can be transported, but real-time monitoring and security features are lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The smart container performs self-monitoring and self-communication functions, autonomously tracking its own location, status, and environment without requiring external monitoring systems. The container equips itself with sensors, processors, and communication capabilities to independently report its condition and location throughout the shipping journey.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart container integrates multiple functions into a single device: it serves as both the packaging vessel and the monitoring station, combining structural containment with electronic sensing, processing, and communication capabilities. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate monitoring systems while enhancing security and reliability.
2Productivity
If smart containers with multiple components are used, then real-time monitoring and security are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines electronic sensors, mechanical components, and communication systems into an integrated smart container unit. The sensor system monitors physical conditions, the processor analyzes data and makes autonomous decisions, and the communication system transmits information - all merged into a single coordinated system that enhances productivity without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart container continuously monitors its own status through sensors and adjusts its behavior based on real-time feedback from the environment and its internal state. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables autonomous response to changing conditions, improving shipping efficiency through adaptive decision-making without requiring complex external control systems.
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional shipping services are used, then packages can be delivered, but flexible delivery options independent of traditional services are not available
Solution Approach 1:
The smart container provides dynamic delivery options by enabling the container itself to initiate and manage its own delivery journey. The container can autonomously determine optimal routes, select delivery methods, and communicate with various stakeholders in real-time, transforming the static traditional shipping model into a dynamic, adaptable system that responds to changing conditions and requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable device augments a shipping container with security and communications capabilities. The device includes multiple sensors, communications circuitry, and other electronic circuitry and/or mechanical components. The device can determine, based on output of the multiple sensors, an anomalous event experienced by the shipping container relative to an expected activity and communicate an indication of the anomalous event over a wireless network to a remote computer. The device also performs an action in response to the anomalous event or based on a command received from the remote computer.