Design and Implementation of Low-Power Container Security Device

A container security device (CSD) monitors intrusion through the cargo door; it is a reduced function device that uses IEEE 802.15.4 with a beacon mode. However, in the beacon mode, the CSD consumes too much battery power in periodical listening and sensing trials even when there is no CSD reader. Therefore, we propose a low-power CSD to reduce the unnecessary power consumption. The proposed CSD follows the requirements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and reduces battery consumption through a power-efficient hardware design, a night-watch mechanism for low-power operation and low-power sensing to reduce unnecessary monitoring. Simulation results show that our CSD reduces battery consumption by over 70% through the night-watch mechanism and by approximately 80% through the low-power sensing.