Luggage security for airline passengers remains a major concern.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 11,700 baggage theft and damages were
reported to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2009. The 2010 report from the International Air
Transport Association (IATA) states that lost baggage costs the air industry
more than US $2.5 billion every year, which equates to more than 25 million
mishandled bags globally. Having recognized this problem, the goal of this
project is to build a prototype of US patent 7 535 358 B2, method and apparatus
for electronically tracking luggage. The patent states that the device would
utilize the Global Positioning System (GPS) to both track and record the
specific times and places that a piece of luggage is opened. Furthermore, the
device needed to relay the location data along with a notification to the owner
of the baggage in real-time. This alert would ensure that the owner would know
that the bag had been compromised prior to its arrival at the destination. The
unreliability of communications in transit requires that the device also have
an onboard logging mechanism that would ensure that the conditions undergone by
the bag during its transit timeline could be analyzed. In addition to the
design details specified in the patent, data analysis tools were also need to
be developed in order to digest the recorded information. These tools include web-based
and smart-phone applications.
Design
Several aspects of the design were considered:
tracking, logging, transmission of data, receipt of data, and the analysis of
data. Having researched various hardware options to closely resemble the
desired functions, two options were proposed as solutions to the
design problem. Option 1 shows a possible design without the use of GPS and
SMS capabilities whereas Option 2 has SMS and GPS capabilities. Option 1
ensured that the bag open/close conditions would be logged on-board when
external communications, or notification capabilities are unavailable. Option 2
was a full system with logging and notification capabilities, and is the design
that most closely resembles the patent. In this project, Option 2 where wireless communication is assumed feasible has been implemented. The recent relaxations in the
laws pertaining to the use of wireless communication devices onboard aircrafts,
would enable the deployment of luggage detection devices with wireless
capabilities.
Data Analysis Tools
The data analysis tools had three parts: web-based tools to view the logged
data, a Twitter feed to log data sent in real-time, and an Android app to view
the Twitter data. All these tools ensured that the user had ample resources to
view the status of the bag in transit, and to view the SD card data once it had
reached its destination. The figure below illustrates the analysis tools. The figure is
broken into two parts: real-time and post flight. The real-time data that is
relayed to the Twitter feed is scrubbed by the Android app and thus would give
the user the capability to view the last known location of the bag. The app was
developed to provide an easy to use interface for the user that can be summoned
at any time to view the bag status. The web-based, post-flight tool allowed the
visualization of the logged SD card data in graphical form along with important
data pertinent to the transit timeline of the bag.
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| Data Analysis Tools |
Implementation
Hardware Implementation
Software Implementation
Web SD Data Analysis
Testing And Results
Hardware Implementation
In the implementation stage of the design, several key factors had to be
considered in order to ensure the device performed to specification. The
primary concern was that of power. The device had to function continuously for
a period of at least an hour for demo purposes while continually logging the
sensor and GPS data along with the occasional SMS transmission. Another
consideration was that of form factor. The device had to be compact and
discrete in the bag. The components had to also be housed in a durable
enclosure to ensure that rough handling of the baggage would not destroy the
device. The following section details the various components utilized in the prototyping
of the device.
Parts
List
Part
|
Function
|
Arduino Uno
|
Microprocessor
|
Sparkfun GSM cellular module with patch antenna
|
Wireless communications
|
Adafruit SD Logger Shield
|
Logging of data on SD card
|
EM-406A GPS Module
|
GPS latitude and longitude data
|
Photocell
|
Light sensor
|
Reed Switch
|
Bag flap contact sensor
|
6 NiMH AA Rechargeable batteries
|
Power supply
|
Otterbox
|
Enclosure
|
 |
| Overall Device Topology |
Software Implementation
 |
| Flow Chart |
Web SD Data Analysis
A
custom website was created to allow for the analysis of the data logged on the
SD card. After arriving
at destination, the traveler would insert the SD card into their computer
and summon the webpage. The website has an up-loader tool which allows the user
to browse to the location of the SD card, and upload the most recent logged
file. Once uploaded, the webpage would automatically parse the data and present
the data in graphical form. Two graphs would be presented: light sensor,
contact sensor. The presented data would indicate if the bag had been
compromised in transit. Beneath the two graphs, a table will appear consisting
of only the data that indicates the luggage might have been opened. We wanted
to make our website very user-friendly so this way the user can look at the
graphs to check if the bag has been opened and look at the table for all the
specifics.
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| Web Analysis Tool |
Testing And Results
Once the hardware assembly was completed, various
functional tests were carried out to ensure the proper operation of the bag
security device. The sensors were tested to ensure that the light and contact
sensor readings were being recorded accurately on the SD card. The device was
successfully initiating a SMS on a bag open event. The data logged on the SD
card was corroborated with the twitter feed to ensure accuracy. The picture below displays a screenshot of the Twitter feed with updates on when the bag was
opened.
It must also be noted that there is a delay of about
2 minutes between the bag open event and the notification being posted on
twitter. This can be attributed to propagation delays in the twitter system and
various other transmission delays beyond control. The bag was also driven in a
car while creating bag open events to test the accuracy of the latitude and
longitude data that was acquired. The error in the GPS was about 15 feet which
was the typical value for consumer GPS devices.
Conclusion
The accomplishments
of the project surpassed expectations and the prototype was successfully
developed and tested according to the functions stipulated in the patent.
Having developed a working prototype, the device could be marketed to luggage
manufacturers as an enhancement to their products to provide a layer of
security for their luggage. As per the current design solution, there are
no sleep mechanisms or ways to remotely cycle the power states. In any event, the
project demonstrated the feasibility of such a device and the overall cost
effectiveness of prototyping such a device.
