Marine Link
Thursday, March 28, 2024

All Set Tracking Launches New Electronic Seal

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

September 30, 2002

In order to meet upcoming requirements for container security, All Set Tracking has developed the ALLTrack e-Seal that will make electronic sealing easy and flexible. The completely new design takes into account the needs of ocean carriers, port operators and shippers both in terms of technical performance and cost efficiency. The new e-Seal is permanently installed on the container and does not use the traditional door locking mechanism at all, which can continue to be sealed using a simple, wire seal in wide use today. The e-Seal uses the same ultra-low power radio “Bluetoothä Lite” transmitter used in the ALLTrack Tag and Reader. Not known to many, current draft standard for electronic seals completely lack wireless data security! “We were very surprised when we found out that the proposed standard!” Coming from the mobile communications world, it was quite evident to include at least a minimum of wireless security in the ALLTrack e-Seal, says All Set Tracking CTO Eric Sandberg. As opposed to traditional electronic seals the ALLTrack e-Seal will use a single globally available radio frequency band, which is license-free. Since the ALLTrack system uses low cost Readers, at a fraction of traditional RFID Readers, the reading infrastructure will be cost efficient to roll out. Due to its small size and high flexibility, the ALLTrack Reader could easily be connected to a standard mobile phone and thus become a “mobile” reader. The new ALLTrack e-Seal will be permanently installed in the container, and by the door hinge a small sensor registers door-opening events. The e-Seal also features capabilities to connect to a wide variety of external sensors from inside the container, thus enabling the future “smart container” capability at the same time without duplication of cost. Thanks to the 10-year battery, the e-Seal will last for the entire lifetime of the container without costly recycling and re-installation needed for other electronic seals. Joachim Ösgård, responsible for the project at All Set says: “We wanted to think out-the-box when we designed the mechanics of the e-Seal. And we ended up with a permanent solution that is actually faster to install than traditional electronic seals!” All Set Tracking’s CEO, Karl Bohman claims: “Our new e-Seal outperforms the current draft international standard for electronic seals in every aspect. It is so superior when it comes to security and payback time”