Mitigating container security risk using real-time monitoring with active Radio Frequency Identification and sensors

The global village in which we live enables increased trade and commerce across regions but also brings a complicated new set of challenges such as terrorist activity, human and drug smuggling and theft in foreign or domestic locations. Containers travel the globe, across all seven continents. In the wake of intensified security concerns since the September 11, 2001 attacks, tracking containers and their contents presents an increasing concern for those institutions and personnel charged with ensuring their security. This thesis analyzes the risks associated with global container transport. The concept of an e-container is set forth as a risk mitigation technology that uses real-time monitoring of a container's physical status acquired from an array of embedded RFID-enabled sensors. A framework is suggested that relates sensor-identified signatures and phenomena to behaviors representing breaches in container security. A theoretical model suggests which sensors are required to identify the individual breaches in order to mitigate container security risk.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Schlesinger, Adam Ian

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David L. Brock.

• Engineering Systems Division.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33353

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33353