Royal Freight Expects Trailer-Tracking System to Yield Greater Security

The VeriWise technology offers a solution to the battery problem, while also providing security verification. The 10- by 12-inch units are wired to 7- by 3-inch solar panels mounted on the fronts of trailers, to recharge a unit's batteries and thereby supply a constant power source, as well as to the power supply coming from the tractor engine. "We design the unit for the life of the trailer," says Darryl Miller, COO of I.D. Systems' Asset Intelligence subsidiary. If the system's motion detector senses that a trailer has been stationary for two weeks, he explains, the unit can go into power-save mode and beacon less often. If the unit is unable to transmit to cellular towers in the area, it stores its data until a transmission can be made.

For security purposes, the units are wired to a sensor attached to the trailer door. If someone breaks the door lock, or simply unlocks the door and opens it, the sensor detects that event and sends a notification with the unit's ID number and location, and the software will store that event, as well as issue an alert to interested parties, such as Royal Freight's management. A cargo sensor, installed in the front of a trailer, uses ultrasonic sound waves to determine if objects are loaded within. The VeriWise unit can then transmit the loaded or unloaded status, along with the time that status changed.

Darryl Miller, COO of Asset Intelligence

All transmitted information is sent to a Web-based server hosted by Asset Intelligence, and information regarding trailer location can also be translated using XML, so that it can be accessed via Royal Freight's existing management system.

In January, Royal Freight began removing the old units and installing new ones on a trailer-by-trailer basis. The company plans to equip all 1,500 trailers with the new technology, while all newly manufactured trailers will come with the units already installed. Royal Freight's workers received training from Asset Intelligence to perform the installations themselves.

Head already knows the value of wireless trailer-tracking systems. He describes an instance prior to using such a system, in which a trailer was parked a block away from its expected location but could not be found for many days. By using a wireless tracking system, he says, his company has greatly increased the utility of its trailers, because now he can ensure that empty trailers are moved to the location where they will be needed, and he can pinpoint the closest empty trailer if none is at that yard. "It's all about operational use, increasing our turn times," he states, and the additional door sensors offer him and his customers greater assurance that a trailer's contents have not been tampered with. "It lets our customer know that the product is safe."

The system is also available for shipping containers, Miller says, with four solar panels to provide additional power since the containers lack a power source from a tractor. According to Miller, I.D. Systems had been interested in the VeriWise product even before GE's existing Asset Intelligence Solutions division purchased Terion's trailer-tracking business and integrated it in 2007. I.D. Systems ultimately purchased that business as a way to expand into rail, truck and container transportation-management solutions.