Wireless tracking and monitoring electronic seal
View Patent ↗An electronic security seal (e-Seal) is disclosed. The e-Seal monitors security of shipments including intermodal containers, reports tampers in real-time, monitors environmental status of goods and reports exceptions in real-time, and reports the location of the shipment with high frequency. The security monitoring complies with the ISO 17712 standard, adding electronic real-time reporting of tamper time and location and LED tamper indication. The e-Seal can be manufactured and operated at low cost due to diagnostic and logistic features. The e-Seal supports low cost upgrades due to a modular architecture allowing a plug-in update of separate functions. The e-Seal allows flexible usage across supply chain tradelanes, due to highly programmable operation including over-the-air remote programming via wireless communications. The e-Seal provides low power operation to save battery usage and lower costs.
1. An electronic seal, comprising:
a security mechanism configured for attaching to a physical asset;
a battery fuel gauge configured to monitor a capacity of a battery of the electronic seal;
a navigation system configured to determine a location fix for the electronic seal according to a time interval;
a processor coupled to the battery fuel gauge and the navigation system, the processor configured to determine if the batter capacity detected by the battery fuel gauge is below a threshold value and to adjust the location fix time interval when the battery capacity is below the threshold value and
the processor having a security interface coupled to the security mechanism, the processor configured for detecting a security event associated with the electronic seal or the physical asset, and for generating a security status in response to the detecting.
2. The electronic seal of claim 1 , where the security mechanism is a bolt seal.
3. The electronic seal of claim 1 , where the security mechanism is an indicative seal.
4. The electronic seal of claim 1 , where the security mechanism is a cable seal.
5. The electronic seal of claim 1 , further comprising:
an environmental interface coupled to the processor and to a number of environmental sensors for monitoring status of goods inside the physical asset.
6. The electronic seal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a wireless communication system coupled to the processor and configured for sending the status over a wireless communication channel to a service provider according to a status time interval, where the processor is configured to adjust the status time interval when the battery capacity is below the threshold value.
7. The electronic seal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a power interface coupled to the processor and to a power source for powering the electronic seal.
8. The electronic seal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a serial interface coupled to the processor and configured for updating of parameters of the electronic seal.
9. The electronic seal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory coupled to the processor for storage of parameters and queued location fixes for reporting.
10. The electronic seal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a housing integrated with, or coupled to, the security mechanism, and including a security compartment including circuitry for detecting a security event, and an electronics compartment for storing the processor and wireless communications system, the housing including a window for displaying a status indication provided by one or more light sources.