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Local firm involved in replacing RFID technology
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
There’s good news for those wary of the ability of radio frequency identification, or RFID, to provide adequate security for shipping containers: New technology, developed in part by a Charleston-based container manufacturer, is making the containers “smarter.”
The smart container, known as SMARTCON, is the brainchild of a team of manufacturers and engineers who had been collaborating on projects for the Department of Defense.
The SMARTCON project involves equipping specialty containers, built by Charleston Marine Containers Inc., with automated information technology to provide real-time global tracking and in-transit visibility of the containers.
“This is not RFID,” said Phil Moore, CMCI’s director of sales and marketing. “It does a quantum bit more, above and beyond what the current RFID is capable of.
“It’s the next generation in container identification, not only for the box itself, but also for cargo manifesting and security.”
The collaborative team includes CMCI, whose container manufacturing facility is located on the former Charleston Naval Base; BNet Corp. of Seattle, Wash.; Phase IV Engineering of Boulder, Colo.; Paladin Logistics of Lemoyne, Pa.; and Cougaar Software Inc. of McLean, Va.
The team came together during a project for the U.S. Navy.
“We built some containers for the Navy for parts storage and delivered them to the Norfolk Naval Base,” said Moore. “And BNet had a contract with the Navy to produce the ‘next generation’ of RFID tags.”
The tags identified the uniqueness of the containers, meaning the tags were provided information such as who packed it, what’s in it, what kind of pressure was involved and whether anyone had opened it, he said.
According to Paladin Logistics President Thomas Steffen, Phase IV, in collaboration with Paladin and Cougaar, has for the past five years been working with various branches of the Department of Defense to develop the latest in high-value asset tracking for Navy ordnance, Naval aviation and U.S. Marine Corps aviation.
“Our wireless tracking, sensing and security solutions allow events to be captured right at the source and the information delivered immediately,” Steffen said.
Phase IV’s technology, called Active Wireless Asset Visibility Electronics, or AWAVE, includes sensors that are installed inside the containers to monitor and track temperature, humidity, shock and evidence of tampering.
The sensors are connected directly to the Wireless Data Node, which provides peer-to-peer interface similar to WiFi connectivity found in laptop computers.
Steffen pointed out that one of the strengths of the system lies in the real-time aspect of the technology.
“With SMARTCON, you know the current location and condition of your containerized goods, not where and how they were the last time they went through a reporting portal maybe days or weeks ago,” he said.
Because the technology is open code—technology that uses standard protocol, which makes it compatible with other systems—the system can be upgraded or enhanced easily.
“They can add pieces and parts to the architecture without changing it,” said Moore. “With current RFID technology, if you update it you have to change everything.”
That’s only one of many complaints circling the security-based industries. With increased emphasis on globalization, there is an increased need for security for companies doing business worldwide.
RFID, usually found in the form of badges or barcoding, was being touted as the leading supply chain security technology until recently, when various complaints surfaced regarding weaknesses in the technology.
Some claim RFID is easily susceptible to theft, while others say the implementation requirements are costly and outdated by the time they’re implemented. Some argue that RFID has been over-hyped, while others insist it promotes complacency.
Perhaps the most convincing argument against RFID is its obsolescence. The latest recommendation from security industry experts is to implement an RFID system that records access and changes, noting that a container that has been entered and either had things removed or added to it might never be detected until it was too late.
That puts the SMARTCON light years ahead of RFID technology.
“Basically this is brand-new technology that not only allows you to talk to the container even in transit, but it allows the containers to talk to each other when they’re in close proximity to one another,” said Moore. “Picture this, let’s say you’re sitting at the Wando terminal and you have an interrogator and all the boxes are wired into the same node. If one of the boxes at the far end of the pier gets opened and it’s not authorized to be, it will tell all the other tags it’s been opened.
“If another ship comes in and discharges its boxes on the pier and they’re on the same network, they will let the other containers know they’re here, what’s in them, the last time they were opened, the condition of things inside.”
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