Smart and secure container

• US 20040041706A1
• Filed: 04/11/2003
• Published: 03/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Corporation
• Inventors: Moore, Thomas G., Stratmoen, Scott Alan, Urbanski, Gary M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,002,472 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 31/00 Predictive alarm systems characterised by extrapolation or other computation using updated historic data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A smart container configured for transporting cargo on a transportation vehicle and a method for transporting the smart container on the transportation vehicle are disclosed. The smart container includes a container housing that has an opening for loading and unloading cargo. The opening can be sealed and unsealed. Disposed within the container housing is at least one detector for detecting deviations that could be indicative of possible threats (security concerns). A communications link is also disposed within the container housing. The communications link is capable of transmitting the possible threat information to a central cargo data collection location. For example, the container(s) on a transportation vehicle (e.g., a ship) transport information about the container to a central data collector onboard the ship. The central data collector may then transmit that information off of the ship, e.g., to a C4ISR grid.

Claims

1. A smart container configured to transport cargo on a transportation vehicle, the smart container comprising:

(a) a container housing having an opening capable of being sealed and unsealed;

(b) at least one cargo contents detector disposed within the container housing, the at least one cargo contents detector configured to detect deviations from known characteristics of the cargo; and

(c) a communications link disposed within the container housing and in communication with the at least one cargo contents detector, the communications link configured to receive cargo characteristic deviation information from the at least one cargo contents detector and to transmit the cargo characteristic deviation information from the container to a central cargo data collection location.

2. The smart container of claim 1, further comprising a logging device disposed within the container housing and in communication with the at least one cargo contents detector, the logging device in communication with a storage device for storing cargo characteristic deviation information from the at least one detector.

3. The smart container of claim 2, further comprising a global positioning system disposed within the container housing, and wherein the logging device is in communication with the global positioning system and the logging device receives and stores location information from the global positioning system.

4. The smart container of claim 3, wherein the location information is stored at periodic intervals.

5. The smart container of claim 3, wherein the periodic intervals vary based on the location of the transportation vehicle as determined by the global positioning system.

6. The smart container of claim 1, wherein the communications link transmits information to the central cargo data collection location via at least one other smart container.

7. The smart container of claim 1, wherein the container housing is a conventional container housing that is retrofitted to have the at least one cargo contents detector and the communications link disposed within the conventional housing.

8. The smart container of claim 7, wherein the conventional container housing comprises:

(a) a global positioning system location logging device disposed within the conventional container housing; and

(b) a commercial electronic seal configured to seal and unseal the container opening.

9. The smart container of claim 8, wherein the commercial electronic seal comprises a radio frequency identification tag.

10. The smart container of claim 8, wherein the commercial electronic seal comprises a tamper resistant member.

11. The smart container of claim 1, wherein the at least one cargo contents detector comprises a container volumetric change detector, the container volumetric change detector configured to detect a deviation from a known volume of the cargo.

12. The smart container of claim 11, wherein the container volumetric change detector is configured to detect volumetric changes using cargo profiling.

13. The smart container of claim 11, wherein the container volumetric change detector is configured to detect volumetric changes using reverberation measurements.

14. The smart container of claim 1, wherein the at least one cargo contents detector comprises a WMD detector configured to detect materials comprising radioactive isotopes stored in the container.

15. The smart container of claim 1, wherein the at least one cargo contents detector comprises a motion detector configured to detect cargo movement within the smart container.

16. A smart container configured to transport cargo on a transportation vehicle, the smart container comprising:

(a) a container housing having an opening capable of being sealed and unsealed;

(b) at least one container security detector disposed within the container housing, the at least one container security detector configured to detect deviations in the security of the container; and

(c) a communications link disposed within the container housing and in communication with the at least one container security detector, the communications link configured to receive container security deviation information from the at least one container security detector and to transmit the container security deviation information from the container to a central cargo data collection location.

17. The smart container of claim 16, further comprising a logging device disposed within the container housing and in communication with the at least one container security detector, the logging device in communication with a storage device for storing container security deviation information from the at least one container security detector.

18. The smart container of claim 17, further comprising a global positioning system disposed within the container housing, and wherein the logging device is in communication with the global positioning system and the logging device receives and stores location information from the global positioning system.

19. The smart container of claim 18, wherein the location information is stored at periodic intervals.

20. The smart container of claim 19, wherein the periodic intervals vary based on the location of the transportation vehicle as determined by the global positioning system.

21. The smart container of claim 16, wherein the communications link transmits information to the central cargo data collection location via at least one other smart container.

22. The smart container of claim 16, wherein the container housing is a conventional container housing that is retrofitted to have the at least one container security detector and the communications link disposed within the conventional housing.

23. The smart container of claim 22, wherein the existing container to be retrofitted comprises:

(a) a global positioning system location logging device disposed within the conventional container housing; and

(b) a commercial electronic seal configured to seal and unseal the container opening.

24. The smart container of claim 23, wherein the commercial electronic seal comprises a radio frequency identification tag.

25. The smart container of claim 23, wherein the commercial electronic seal comprises a tamper resistant member.

26. The smart container of claim 16, wherein the at least one container security detector comprises a breach detector configured to detect unauthorized container entry.

27. The smart container of claim 26, wherein the breach detector detects cutting of the container.

28. The smart container of claim 26, wherein the breach detector detects shell openings of the container.

29. The smart container of claim 16, wherein the at least one container security detector comprises a door open/close detector configured to detect container entry via the container opening.

30. A smart container configured to transport cargo on a transportation vehicle, the smart container comprising:

(a) a container housing having an opening capable of being sealed and unsealed;

(b) at least one route deviation detector disposed within the container housing, the at least one route deviation detector configured to detect deviations from a planned route of the transportation vehicle; and

(c) a communications link disposed within the container housing and in communication with the at least one route deviation detector, the communications link configured to receive route deviation information from the at least one route deviation detector and to transmit the route deviation information from the container to a central cargo data collection location.

31. The smart container of claim 30, further comprising a global positioning system disposed within the container housing, the global positioning system determining location information indicating a current location of the transportation vehicle.

32. The smart container of claim 31, further comprising stored planned route information and wherein the route deviation detector compares the current location of the transportation vehicle to the planned route information to determine if there has been a significant deviation from the planned route.

33. The smart container of claim 32, further comprising a logging device disposed within the container housing and in communication with the at least one route deviation detector, the logging device in communication with a storage device for storing route deviation information from the at least one detector.

34. The smart container of claim 33, wherein the location information is stored at periodic intervals.

35. The smart container of claim 34, wherein the periodic intervals vary based on the location of the transportation vehicle as determined by the global positioning system.

36. The smart container of claim 30, wherein the communications link transmits information to the central cargo data collection location via at least one other smart container.

37. The smart container of claim 30, wherein the container housing is a conventional container housing that is retrofitted to have the at least one route deviation detector and the communications link disposed within the conventional housing.

38. The smart container of claim 37, wherein the existing container to be retrofitted comprises:

(a) a global positioning system location logging device disposed within the conventional container housing; and

(b) a commercial electronic seal configured to seal and unseal the container opening.

39. The smart container of claim 38, wherein the commercial electronic seal comprises a radio frequency identification tag.

40. The smart container of claim 38, wherein the commercial electronic seal comprises a tamper resistant member.

41. A method of transporting cargo in a container via a transportation vehicle to a destination point, the method comprising:

(a) loading the cargo in the container, the container including at least one container security detector for monitoring container security;

(b) electronically sealing the container;

(c) loading the container on the transportation vehicle;

(d) transporting the cargo via the transportation vehicle; and

(e) continuously monitoring container security during transit using the at least one container security detector.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

(f) evaluating container security risk based on data collected while monitoring container security;

(g) if the container security risk is high, taking corrective action; and

(h) if the container security risk is not high;

(i) proceeding to the destination point; and

(ii) electronically unsealing the smart container.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the corrective action taken when the container security risk is high comprises not proceeding to the destination point.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein evaluating container security risk comprises determining if there was a volumetric change in container contents.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein evaluating container security risk comprises determining if there was breach of the container.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein evaluating container security risk comprises determining if the container contains a material having a radioactive isotope.

47. The method of claim 42, wherein evaluating container security risk comprises determining if there was a route deviation.

48. The method of claim 42, further comprising logging container events.

49. The method of claim 42, further comprising communicating with at least one other smart container.

50. The method of claim 42, further comprising communicating with a central link for the transportation vehicle.