Smart Box Provides Added Security
Smart Box Provides Added Security
Technology mix makes for intelligent containers
The Smart Box.
Where is my shipment – right now? Is the shipment still complete? These are the kinds of questions many customers want answered while their goods are being shipped – especially when it comes to such valuable items as pharmaceuticals or high-end entertainment electronics. Smart Box is the answer. Norbert Pieper, Senior Expert Security in the Corporate Security Department and his colleagues Rainer Hen and Michael Schmidt are the minds behind Smart Box. A few years ago Pieper and his team started to identify potential weaknesses in shipping processes; they also considered customers' additional requests. Their research led to the idea of an intelligent transport box that met all demands. "Why re-invent the wheel? There are plenty of technologies that have already stood the test," describes Pieper his thoughts during Smart Box's conceptual phase. He decided to combine several technologies for the smart transport container, the most important of which is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
Normally customers do not find out whether the shipment is complete until it is delivered. When a shipment does arrive damaged or incomplete the question comes up: "Where did it happen and who is responsible?"
"Say you have a pallet of merchandise and someone removes an item from the middle of it. This usually happens unnoticed. Determining who it was and when it happened is basically impossible," says Pieper. Freight gets handled by a number of forwarders on its journey from point A to point B, passing several sorting centers along the way. Checking all pallets and containers at transfer points would be too costly in terms of time. And time, of course, is money. But this is something Smart Box's RFID technology can take over.
With RFID, the number of items in a shipment can be constantly monitored. For this reason, the goods inside the container need to be tagged with so-called RFID transponders, which can store information such as product identifiers as well as information on the item's sender and its recipient. The box is equipped with an RFID reader that registers the data and determines how many items are included in the shipment. The reader device automatically records each marked item as it is loaded into the Smart Box. The device also "notices" when items are removed from the container, reducing the size of the shipment. To assure a 100 percent reading rate, each box is equipped with an integrated antenna. A mini-computer saves the data recorded by the reader.
Smart Box also records a demolition of the boxes walls. They are equipped with electro conductive material in the form of conductive paths. "If one is cut through, for instance with a knife, an alarm will immediately go off," explains Rainer Henß.
RFID means security
A RFID-Transponder.
The security lock also uses RFID. The Smart Box security lock can only be opened by individuals possessing a special access card embedded with an RFID chip and the necessary authorization status. As soon as this happens, the box registers the place of access thanks to a clever positioning system.
Currently, DHL's "Track and Trace" system pins down a shipment's location. With a consignment ID code, tracking information can be accessed via internet. But the tracking is limited to key positions, such as the item's arrival or dispatch at distribution centers. Seamless, uninterrupted tracking has not been possible up until now – another obstacle that Smart Box has overcome.
Shipment tracking starts with GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, the worldwide satellite-based positioning system that also helps people to locate and reach their destinations with the aid of navigation systems. A transmitter in the Smart Box establishes the contact with the GPS. "These days, GPS-generated data is so precise that we can locate the box to within five meters," says Rainer Henß. The real-time location of the shipment is then displayed on a map.
But GPS has its vulnerable spot: it only works under the open sky. As soon as the Smart Box has found its way into a sorting center, GPS contact breaks down. "This is why the system has been fitted with a kind of location transmitter and a special cellular card," explains Norbert Pieper. This will enable customers and shippers to locate items even more reliably. This is the same technology that forms the basis of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), which achieves precision of 50 to 100 meters in urban areas and roughly two kilometers in rural areas. "It depends on the size of the cell," explains Henß. Like the other two systems, the location transmitter is also based on cellular radio technology, although it uses a different bandwidth.
Cellular technology for data transmission
Data transmission per radio technology
The GSM-based cellular radio transmitter also allows fast data transmission. The mini computer that collects information from the RFID reading device, the security lock and the positioning system is connected with the cellular radio unit, which allows the customer, for example, to access data via an internet platform.
Along with the benefits for the customer, Smart Box also improves to manage supply chains, since they can react immediately to unexpected complications. In addition, the high-tech Smart Box falls into the category of so-called "intelligent logistic objects" and offers main features to prove itself within the "Internet of Things".
"The entire system can be developed further. A temperature/pressure control function for perishable goods is one of many possibilities," says Pieper. Smart Box has already passed its first test. 100 items were shipped from Amsterdam to Vienna. "We opened the boxes 'illegally' while they were in transit," said Pieper. The alarm system reacted immediately. Further development of the Smart Box will take place at the DHL Innovation Center, where new features such as a charging station for the batteries of the mini computer are being developed.
