Smart Packaging for Critical Energy Shipments

Invention Reference Number

202305293

Real-time tracking and monitoring of radioactive/nuclear materials during transportation is a critical need to ensure safety and security. Current technologies rely on simple tagging, using sensors attached to transport containers, but they have limitations. SPaCES uses Smart Packaging (SP), together with 3D printing and Ad-Hoc networking, to embed sensors within 3D-printed containers. Each package in transport is equipped with an edge computing device and a suite of sensors, which monitors and reports to an operations center any anomalies that can then be remotely handled.

Description

This technology integrates wireless sensing and secure networking in a Smart Packaging-equipped cargo of radioactive or nuclear material for transport. The container is 3D-printed, with an embedded Smart Packaging sensor suite. Sensors can communicate with each other and transmit cargos’ status, through the vehicle infrastructure and eventually to the cloud for online monitoring. This enables distributed system-wide situational awareness and improves remote real-time crisis management capability. Embedding the suite into 3D-printed cargo containers adds additional security protection. A small microcontroller uses very little energy for data collection and issuing alerts. Real-time tracking and monitoring senses, among other details, temperature, pressure, humidity, inertia measurement units, acceleration, angular measurement, and light, remotely reporting back to an operations center on a controllable dashboard while the shipment is in transit.

Benefits

3D printing allows enhanced physical protection of sensors and edge computing devices
Sensors and associated devices are obfuscated, not readily apparent
Reduced risk of eavesdropping, interference, jamming, and theft
Customizable packaging
Certification required only once, not multiple times
Devices can communicate with each other