A telecommunications framework for real-time monitoring of dangerous goods transport

Monitoring and tracking of fleets can represent a great improvement in security and safety when transporting hazardous goods by road. In this paper we propose a complete monitoring and tracking solution for truck fleets, which is able to check at the same time the position and the mechanical status of the vehicle, as well as the conditions in the cargo bay. The system exploits battery-powered environmental sensors (temperature, humidity, pressure, gas concentration and ionising radiation levels), connected by a ZigBee-based Wireless Sensor Network. This approach guarantees flexibility, ease of deployment and low power consumption. Collected data is then sent from the vehicle to a remote server via a GPRS link. The GPS positioning system is integrated by the use of an Inertial Navigation System, which guarantees a precise estimate of the position also when the GPS signal is weak or temporarily lost. The proposed solution has been deployed in a real environment, and some performance evaluation tests have been carried out.