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Transportation security system and associated methods

  • US 7,990,270 B2
  • Filed: 01/30/2006
  • Issued: 08/02/2011
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2005
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A security system for monitoring at least one shipping container being transported by at least one cargo transport vehicle, the system comprising:

  • a Container Security Device (CSD) configured to be removably coupled to the at least one freight shipping container wall thereby utilized for monitoring a cargo inside the container and detection of intrusion violations accompanied with partial destruction of the container wall when in a coupled condition, the CSD including at least one anti-tamper sensor, a microcontroller and a communication device;

    wherein the microcontroller generates an alert status based on an output data generated by least one anti-tamper sensor being subjected to an individual sensor processing procedure and then to an integrated sensor processing procedure, the integrated sensor processing procedure makes determination of the overall container alert status based on the output data from said at least one sensor; and

    a Network Operations Center (NOC), the NOC including a NOC communications facility configured to communicate with at least one telecommunication network, the NOC being configured to receive data from each of a plurality of the CSDs and including a data storage medium configured to store sensor data and contained an archive of the container events,wherein the CSD communication device is configured to communicate its condition including an alarm transmission to the NOC via satellite communication channels,wherein at least one anti-tamper sensor includes an accelerometer, and the accelerometer output is monitored for exceeding a pre-set threshold, which triggers the data to be further analyzed in the microcontroller for presence of an intrusion signal, andwherein the CSD microcontroller compares the accelerometer output to a standard signal, corresponding to a signal generated by a metal cutting instrument to determine if the metal cutting instrument is used to break the container wall.

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