IoT Supply-chain Monitoring

2020

Overview

CargoTracker is an IoT module designed for the transportation industry to ensure safe and secure delivery of goods and parcels, especially fragile and dangerous items. The device monitors external conditions and the position of the transportation, detecting any critical changes in parameters such as temperature, pressure, and humidity. In the event of a dangerous change, the device saves current data and reports the issue to prevent damage to the cargo.

Problem Statement

The transportation of fragile and dangerous goods poses a challenge in maintaining safe and stable conditions during transit. Any sudden changes in external parameters can lead to damage, and result in costly losses for both the transportation company and the recipient.

Solution

CargoTracker provides a solution to this problem by monitoring the external conditions of the transportation and alerting the user in the event of a critical change. The device is equipped with advanced technologies such as STM32, BLE, an MPU6050 accelerometer, BME280, and LiPo, which allows for real-time tracking of the transportation’s conditions and location.

IoT Supply-chain Monitoring — cargo tracker device

Use Case Scenario

A transportation company is tasked with delivering a fragile and expensive piece of equipment from one location to another. The company attaches the CargoTracker device to the transportation to monitor its conditions throughout the journey. During transit, the device detects a critical change in temperature, which could result in damage to the equipment. The device immediately saves current data and reports the issue to the transportation company. The company takes appropriate action to resolve the issue and prevent any damage to the equipment.

Benefits

By using CargoTracker, transportation companies can reduce the risk of damage to goods and parcels during transit, which results in improved customer satisfaction and reduced costs associated with compensation for damaged goods. Additionally, the real-time monitoring and reporting capabilities provided by the device allow for quick and effective resolution of any issues that may arise during transit.

Conclusion

CargoTracker is an advanced IoT solution designed to ensure the safe and secure delivery of goods and parcels. Its real-time monitoring capabilities and advanced technology provide a reliable and effective solution to the challenges posed by the transportation of fragile and dangerous goods.

Engineering at a glance

Status. R&D prototype, 2020-03 to 2022-05. About 370 engineering hours, 4 engineers. We report no deployment figures.
MCU decision. The first prototype ran on an ATmega328, which ran out of memory. We ported it to an STM32F103C8 (Blue Pill) in 2020-06.
Sensors. An MPU6050 accelerometer with a motion-threshold interrupt for shocks, and a 10 kOhm NTC thermistor on the ADC. The firmware averages 64 samples per reading and switches the thermistor circuit through an enable pin.
Sleep and wake. The STM32 stays in deep sleep (STM32LowPower) and wakes on the accelerometer interrupt, on a button, or on an RTC alarm every 15 minutes. A power-consumption pass in 2021-08 hunted leakage by switching off peripherals one at a time.
On-device storage. An external SPI flash keeps 8-byte temperature records at 240 per day, a 34-day buffer, plus a separate region for shock events. The RTC stamps every record.
Link and app. An HM-10 BLE module, put to sleep after 60 seconds of inactivity, moves data to a React Native 0.61 app (react-native-ble-plx). Repositories: 16 firmware commits, 13 app commits.
Hardware. The prototype build took about 168 engineering hours. We made and populated a PCB in 2021, then estimated unit cost and battery autonomy in 2022-05.