Interpool executive summary
Smart Cards Using XML Standards
Group #18
Advisors
Professor Sumit Ghosh
Professor John Keating
Members
Mercedes Ogando
Michael Baroulakis
Jacob Puthiamadathil
Currently when a shipping container is sent from one terminal to another, the paperwork is done by hand. The paperwork mentioned includes information about what is inside the container, where it came from, where it is going, etc. When the container is in transit, no information can be obtained about its status. For example, if hazardous material is being transported from one place to another, there is no way to monitor what is happening inside the container in a timely manner. There is no electronic system in place to track a container from its terminal of origin to its terminal of final destination.
The sponsor of our project, Interpool, is interested in the possibility of making such a system. Interpool is in the business of loaning out containers. Currently the profit margin for loaning out these containers is very small. If the company could develop “smart” containers with additional features that would reduce the need for paperwork, then the profit margins for these containers could improve. An additional challenge is that these “smart” containers must be relatively inexpensive; otherwise there will be no way to recoup the initial investment.
What we are intending to do is design a system by which containers can be tracked from origin to destination. Specifically, we are responsible for the smart card and security aspects of the smart card. Many decisions must be made as to the best design of the smart card, but we are working with some assumptions. The smart card will have a microprocessor as well as memory. The smart card should be able to communicate wirelessly with the smart card readers. The data structure, which will contain all the information about the container, will be written in XML. These assumptions, if they prove to be inadequate at some point, can be modified.
Issues in the design of the smart card will include how the data structure will look and what kind of information will be on it. This means deciding which variables to include on the smart card and deciding which, if any variables should be monitored in an active fashion. Another design issue is how the security for the smart card will be implemented. What types of users will try to access the information on the smart card? How much information should be available to each of these users? We might use Bluetooth for the wireless protocol or we might go with an existing protocol.
Initially we want to work out all the details for our smart card unit on paper, compiling a list of all the features that we would like the smart card to have. Then we will search through existing smart cards and modify an existing smart card to make our system. At the end of the project, we expect to have a working prototype of our system.