JoOST (2015) 1-8 © STM Journals 2015. All Rights Reserved Page 1

Journal of Offshore Structure and Technology ISSN: 2349-8986(online)

Volume 2, Issue 1

www.stmjournals.com

Cargo Containers Pilferage: Tracking and Checking

Devanshu Suman*, Ashutosh Kumar Department of ECE, Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Tumkur, Karnataka, India

Abstract Due to pilferage from the cargo containers, industries suffer a loss of huge sum of money as

the cargo containers are used in transporting vast amount of manufactured product/raw

shipment material from one place to another. During the transportation, once the pilferage or

employee theft is done, all the authorities intricate whether guilty or not comes under the point

of suspicion. This results in culminate loss of the industry and people involved in the process

of transportation. In United States, a region with emerging trend to ship goods was done

either by rail directly from ports to inland or intermodal traffic terminals. To succeed such

empanelment shippers requisitely have “visibility” into rail shipments. In this project we

strive for provide visibility into shipments through optimal placement of sensor and

communication technology. We formally define the notion of visibility and then highlight the

objectives of our study. We also are responsible for a comprehensive description of an

optimization problem which has been established to regulate optimal sensor locations.

Numerous difficulties must be resolved to allow cost-effective perceptibility into rail

shipments. We collapse these problems into responsibilities and confer how they can be

addressed. The predictable consequence of the proposed research includes a model or several

models, that forecast the system cost given an obligation of sensors to rail-based containers.

This model can be used to govern cost effective consequences for deploying sensors to

containers on a train, as well as the system trade-offs.

Keywords: Sensor Placement, Cargo, Trains, Freight, GPS

*Author for Correspondence E-mail: devanshu.suman@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION The worldwide supply sequence is the network

of many subunits which include suppliers,

manufacturing hubs, warehouses, distribution

cores, and retail channels that transmute raw

materials to the final finished products and

supplies them to consumers. Security of the

organization has conventionally concentrated

on reducing shrinkage, the loss of cargo

shipments through theft and misrouting which

consequently brought increased attention to

the risks containerized shipping grants [1, 2].

After September 11, 2001, the whole concern

of the security of a resource chain has become

a major apprehension to the public and private

sectors.

In precise, the oceanic supply chain is most

susceptible to security threats [3]. Beyond

90% of world trade incriminates containers

aboard ships, amounting to about 20 million

containers trips annually. For US, 17,000

containers arrive at ports each day [4]. Both

the government and industries diligences have

instigated to scrutinize ways to address the

warning of terrorism and the prospective of

having weapons of mass destruction (WMD)

in materials rolling through a supply chain

[5, 6].

WMD can consequence in momentous loss in

human lives, devastation of infrastructure, and

destruction of public and business confidence.

Ultimately, global employment and wealth are

defenseless.

OBJECTIVES Cargo monitoring system (CMS) is a

combination of hardware and software that

permits control/monitor containers from the

departure to ultimate destination. The chief

points of such system:

Safety of the goods carried;

Control of the illegal and smuggled goods;

The cargo traffic and standing

information;

Factual observing of hazardous and high

value goods.

Cargo Containers Pilferage Suman and Kumar

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From time to time such state of affairs occurs

when the containers are overloaded with the

illegal goods or delivered devoid of the

owner’s approval. With the intention of dodge

such situations, it is anticipated to monitor

cargo transportation via GPS tracking system

[7]. To certify suitable and appropriate

response to the interfering cargo openings,

containers are equipped with the mobile GPS

device and GSM modem. Furthermore door

opening sensor is mounted secretly to the

container (Figure 1).

GPS device possesses the synchronization of

container and transfers information to the main

server via GSM network at static interims. The

user can associate to the graphic user interface

and monitor container stream of traffic as well

as door position either was opened or not, with

any computer which was connected to the

internet that time. Just in case when the door is

opened that time the alert, composed of

particular time, coordinates and cargo number

is referred to the user’s mobile telephone or

email, so that user can track his shipment [8].

COMPONENTS OF ELECTRONIC

CARGO TRACKING SYSTEM

Tracking reader which includes GPS

receiver, RFID reader and GPRS/GSM

modem.

Electronic seal.

ECTS software platform.

Electronic Seal

The electronic seal can be used up to 1000

times and a having a beneficial existence of

3–5 years reliant on the usage. A bidirectional

encrypted communication to tracking reader

events memory and configurable user

parameters [9, 10] (Figures 2, 3).

Fig. 1: Cargo Monitor via GPS Tracking System.

Fig. 2: Electronic Seal.

Journal of Offshore Structure and Technology

Volume 2, Issue 1

ISSN: 2349-8986(online)

JoOST (2015) 1-8 © STM Journals 2015. All Rights Reserved Page 3

Fig. 3: Business Model.

Implementation

The ECTS is instigated using Radio Frequency

Identification (RFID) and GPS/GPRS

technology. All the transportable

trucks/vehicles, tankers and containers

carrying goods on transit, exports and under

controls are fixed with a tracking device and

electronic seal which conducts the seal status,

truck location and any desecration information

on real time basis [11].

PROBLEM STATEMENT Additionally to constant monitoring of the

locks and the vehicles, supervisors will have

custom handheld devices to either receive or

send all data concerning the freights or

containers on-line. The cargo tracking and

protection system presents all freights,

containers and vehicle’s information on a

Google Earth, using the GPS location of each

module via the GSM network.

GPS Module

GPS receivers are collected form of an

antenna, adjusted to the frequencies

transmitted by the satellites, receiver-

processors and a highly steady clock often a

crystal oscillator. They may also comprise a

demonstration for providing location and

speed statistics to the user.

Features

65 channels to acquire and track satellite

simultaneously.

Industry-leading TTFF speed.

Tracking sensitivity reaches-161 dBm.

0.5 PPM TCXO for quick cold start.

Integral LNA with low power control.

SBAS (WAAS/EGNOS) capable.

Cold start 29 sec under clear sky.

Hot start 1 sec under clear sky.

Accuracy 5 m CEP.

Operable at 3.6 V–6 V.

Both of RS232 and UART interface at

CMOS level.

Small form factor of 32 mm W x 32 mm L

x 8 mm H.

Mountable without solder process.

6 pins wafer connector.

Applications

Automotive and marine navigation

Automotive navigator tracking

Emergency locator

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Geographic surveying personal

positioning

MAX 232

MAX232 is an assimilated circuit that

transfigures signals from an RS232 serial port

to signals appropriate for use in TTL attuned

digital logic circuits. MAX232 is a dual

driver/receiver which characteristically

translates the RX, TX, CTS and RTS signals.

Here, in this device, the MAX 232 is

anticipated to serially interface the GPS

module with the microcontroller to facilitate

the microcontroller which can accept the GPS

frames sent by the GPS module in a proficient

way [12].

Microcontroller 89S52

In this coordination, the microcontroller 89S52

acting the most dynamic part. The code burnt

in the microcontroller decodes the data

received from the satellite using the

impression of counter. Thus transfiguring the

GPS frames obtained from the receiver

module in a comprehensible format.

Furthermore, the microcontroller is also in

authority to send the compulsory statistics

through MAX232 and GPRS/GSM to the

monitoring [13].

GSM/GPRS Module SIM 300

SIM300 is a Tri-band GSM/GPRS engine that

regulates on frequencies EGSM 900 MHz,

DCS 1800 MHz and PCS1900 MHz. SIM300

be responsible for GPRS multi-slot class 10

capabilities and sustenance the GPRS coding

schemes CS-1, CS-2, CS-3 and CS-4.

The corporeal boundary to the mobile

application is prepared over and done with 60

pins board-to-board connectors, which make

available all hardware interfaces between the

module and customers’ boards apart from the

RF antenna interface.

The keypad and SPI LCD interface will

give you the flexibility to develop

customized applications.

Two serial ports can help you easily

develop your applications.

Two audio channels include two

microphones inputs and two speaker

outputs.

This can be easily configured by AT

command.

GSM300 AT Commands

AT+CMGF=1

<ENTER>: To check the modem.

AT+CPIN="0000".

<ENTER>: To check the network.

AT+CMGF=1

<ENTER>: To send the message in text

format.

AT+CMGS=”UMBER”.

<ENTER>: To enter the destination number.

AT+CNMI=2,2,0,0,0.

<ENTER>: To receive the message.

Features of GSM 300

SIM300 Tri-band: EGSM 900, DCS 1800,

PCS 1900.

The band can be set by AT COMMAND,

and default band is EGSM 900 and DCS

1800.

Power supply: Single supply voltage

3.4 V–4.5 V.

Normal operation: –20°C to+55°C.

Supported SIM card: 1.8 V ,3 V.

Programmable via AT command.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a

space-based satellite navigation system that

provides location and time information in all

weather conditions, anywhere on or near the

earth where there is an unobstructed line of

sight to four or more GPS satellites. The

system provides critical capabilities to

military, civil and commercial users around

the world. It is maintained by the United States

government and is freely accessible to anyone

with a GPS receiver.

The GPS project was developed in 1973 to

overcome the limitations of previous

navigation systems, integrating ideas from

several predecessors, including a number of

classified engineering design studies from the

1960s. GPS was created and realized by the

US Department of Defence (DoD) and was

originally run with 24 satellites. It became

fully operational in 1995 [14].

Advances in technology and new demands on

the existing system have now led to efforts to

modernize the GPS system and implement the

next generation of GPS III satellites and next

generation Operational Control System

(OCX). Announcements from Vice President

Journal of Offshore Structure and Technology

Volume 2, Issue 1

ISSN: 2349-8986(online)

JoOST (2015) 1-8 © STM Journals 2015. All Rights Reserved Page 5

Al Gore and the White House in 1998 initiated

these changes. In 2000, the U.S. Congress

authorized the modernization effort, GPS III.

Each GPS satellite continually broadcasts a

signal (carrier frequency with modulation) that

includes:

A pseudorandom code (sequence of ones

and zeros) that is known to the receiver.

By time-aligning a receiver-generated

version and the receiver-measured version

of the code, the time of arrival (TOA) of a

defined point in the code sequence, called

an epoch, can be found in the receiver

clock time scale

A message that includes the time of

transmission (TOT) of the code epoch (in

GPS system time scale) and the satellite

position at that time.

Conceptually, the receiver measures the TOAs

(according to its own clock) of four satellite

signals. From the TOAs and the TOTs the

receiver forms four times of flight (TOF)

values, which are (given the speed of light)

approximately equivalent to receiver-satellite

range differences. The receiver then computes

its three-dimensional position and clock

deviation from the four TOFs.

In practice the receiver position (in three

dimensional Cartesian coordinates with origin

at the earth's center) and the offset of the

receiver clock relative to GPS system time are

computed simultaneously, using the navigation

equations to process the TOFs.

The receiver's earth-centered solution location

is usually converted to latitude, longitude and

height relative to an ellipsoidal earth model.

The height may then be further converted to

height relative to the geoids (e.g., EGM96)

(essentially, mean sea level). These

coordinates may be displayed, perhaps on a

moving map display and/or recorded and/or

used by other system (e.g., vehicle guidance,

exactly locating a person carrying GPS

device).

GSM (Global System for Mobile

Communications) GSM (Global System for Mobile

Communications), (originally Groupe Spécial

Mobile), is a standard established by the

European Telecommunications Standards

Institute (ETSI) to define protocols for second

generation (2G) digital cellular networks used

by mobile phones. It is the default global

standard for mobile communications by way

of using over 90% market share, and is

presented in over 219 countries and territories

[12].

The GSM standard was established as a

replacement for first generation (1G) analog

cellular networks, and in the beginning

described a digital, circuit-switched network

optimized for full duplex voice telephony.

This was extended over time to include data

communications, first by circuit-switched

transport, afterward packet data transport via

General Packet Radio Services) and EDGE

(Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution or

EGPRS).

Afterwards, the 3GPP established third

generation (3G) UMTS standards tracked by

fourth generation (4G) LTE advanced

standards, which are not part of the ETSI GSM

standard.

EXISTING SYSTEM A present technology of locking and

monitoring the cargos does not provide

effective solutions for the situation. A little

corruption among the employees can easily

deceive the whole security system. Since these

cargos contain materials of high value and in

high quantity, therefore these containers are

more prone to the pilferage and to protect the

material we need a sound technique which

minimizes the loss due to involvement of the

corrupt employees [12] (Figure 4).

PROPOSED SYSTEM The proposed solution consists of several

complexes while the two main ones are:

Fleet management solution for monitoring

of vehicles.

Cargo tracking solution for monitoring of

the goods.

Working

After loading the materials in the containers

the electronic lock is activated. This lock

continuously monitors the global positioning

coordinates of the container and sends the data

Cargo Containers Pilferage Suman and Kumar

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to the base station if requested (Figure 5).

During the course of the journey the electronic

lock cannot be opened as it requires a series of

security checks before opening. At the

destination the driver has to press a button to

acknowledge the completion of journey. When

the switch is pressed the lock sends the current

GPS coordinates to the base station. At the

base station the received coordinates are

compared with the database to confirm

whether the container has reached the right

destination or not. If confirmed correctly it

will send the password and ID number of the

driver to the lock and the password to the

driver via GSM [11]. The concerned driver has

to evidence his identity to the lock by bringing

into being a RFID card. After authenticating

the correct ID number the lock will enquire for

password and after validating the correct

password it will open the electromagnetic

lock. Any activity of pilferage in between the

journey can be tracked by sending the GPS

coordinates and activation of alarm

immediately. The whole routing of the journey

of the container can be traced by viewing GPS

coordinates on the PC at base station using

Google Earth [10].

Fig. 4: Ship Carrying Cargoes.

Fig. 5: Working of Cargo Monitoring System.

Journal of Offshore Structure and Technology

Volume 2, Issue 1

ISSN: 2349-8986(online)

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Advantages

The proposed system has following

Advantages:

Use of information to identify compliant

stakeholders in the industry.

Platform for exchange of information with

other Government agencies.

Develop improved risk assessment systems.

Serve as data sources and as a data

exchange tool for regional cargo tracking.

Anti-dumping/diversion of transit, export,

excisable export goods.

Fast movement of goods along the Kenya

supply chain.

Elimination of non-tariff barriers to trade

and traffic.

Reduction of corruption cases and

promotion of integrity.

Increased the level of security of monitored

goods.

Fast movement of goods and conveyances

along the corridors.

Improve voluntary levels of compliance.

Low cost of compliance.

Limitations

The proposed system has following limitations.

Resistance–embracing by users

(sensitization).

System knowledge and commitment among

the users (training).

Vendor management–Numbers/quality

(strict balance of quality/charge).

ICT challenges–integration (source code).

Vendors challenges (SLA and Compliance

regulation).

Hardware failures, Systems integration.

Maintenance and capacity challenges.

Stakeholders.

Resistance and costs consideration (TEP).

Applications

Direct Benefits to

Private Firms

Efficiency and productivity, often thought of as cost reduction benefits.

Improved reliability and service quality, usually thought of as tools to retain good

customers and grow market share and revenue.

Improved shipment and container integrity, built around a core of security issues.

Direct Public Sector

Benefits

More efficient and effective government operations.

Increased greater national security.

Improved safety.

Reduced environmental effects of freight transport.

Reduced congestion and expanded capacity for transportation infrastructure.

Indirect Freight

Network Benefits

Economies of scale and decreasing unit cost of network expansion.

Exponential increase in total benefits as costs drop and usage grows.

Derivative productivity benefits in industries that depend on freight transportation.

Hardware and Software Requirements

Software Requirements

Coding in embedded C.

Maintaining of database in Microsoft

Access.

VB.net for front end.

Hardware Requirements

89C51 hardware designing.

Interfacing GPS with microcontroller.

Interfacing GSM with PC.

PCB designing and concepts.

CONCLUSION Other stakeholders will benefit significantly

with the full implementation of the electronic

cargo tracking system. With a comprehensive

solution for the monitoring of transit cargo, its

position, situation and other appropriate

information are gathered about it in real time,

henceforward securing the supply chain.

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Cite this Article: Devanshu Suman, Ashutosh Kumar.

Cargo Containers Pilferage: Tracking

and Checking. Journal of Offshore

Structure and Technology. 2015; 2(1):

1–8p.