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18, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
What Can MEMS Do for Logistics of Food?
Intelligent Container Technologies: A Review
Walter Lang and Reiner Jedermann
Abstract— One-third of the food produced on Earth is never
eaten, but is lost. A considerable loss of food during transport
could be prevented if modern sensor technology was used
to manage the supply chain. To achieve this aim, intelligent-
container research is done worldwide and has made considerable
progress during the last years. This review firstl gives an overview
of this paper with focus on the most important international
research projects working closely to application and performing
field tests. In the next chapter, we discuss the possible impact
of sensor networks on food logistics and describe the results of
modelling the food supply. This leads us to the new paradigm in
food logistics, first expire first out. The second part is devoted
to identify critical sensor types for food logistics and related
new technical developments. We show that ethylene gas plays
a crucial role, since it is the ripening trigger and indicator in
fruits and vegetables. Finally, we discuss the state-of–the art of
ethylene detection for logistics, infrared spectroscopy sensors, and
miniaturized gas chromatography systems.
Index Terms— Intelligent container, sensor networks, logistics,
mold detection, ethylene sensor, FEFO.
I. I NTRODUCTION
O UT of the food produced on this world, two-thirds are
eaten and one-third is lost. Gustavsson et al. [2] found
that consumers cause some losses, but more occur during
production, transport and retailing. Consumer losses differ
significantly between the first and third world, but losses due
to production and retailing do not differ much. Other sources
also find substantial losses in food transport. In China alone,
transport losses of perishables of hundreds of billions of RMB
(Renminbi) per annum are reported [3]. In cold chains alone,
a value of 56 billion RMB (7.7 billion e) is lost [4].1
A considerable part of these losses is caused by quality
problems in the transport chain. Temperature and humidity are
badly controlled, dangerous states such as premature ripening
Manuscript received March 14, 2016; revised May 31, 2016; accepted
May 31, 2016. Date of publication June 2, 2016; date of current version
August 15, 2016. This work was supported in part by the German Federation
of Industrial Research Associations and in part by the Federal Ministry of
Education and Research, Germany, under Reference No. 01IA10001. The GC
development has been done in cooperation with FWBI, Bremen, and has been
supported by the AiF-German Federation of Industrial Research Associations.
This paper was presented at the IEEE Sensors Conference, Busan, South
Korea, 2015. The associate editor coordinating the review of this paper and
approving it for publication was Prof. Subhas C. Mukhopadhyay.
The authors are with the Institute for Microsensors, -Actuators, and
-Systems, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany, and also with
the Microsystems Center Bremen, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359,
Germany (e-mail: wlang@imsas.uni-bremen.de; rjedermann@imsas.uni-
bremen.de).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2016.2576287
1 The papers of Zhang [4] and Gong [3] are available in Chinese only. They
are cited after [5].
1558-1748 © 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO.
and decay of fruits are not detected, mold fungus infections
destroy food. MEMS sensors and wireless sensor networks can
identify problems, allowing better control and helping reduce
the losses.
II. I NTELLIGENT C ONTAINER R ESEARCH
Within the last decade, substantial research has been
performed and published worldwide under the keywords
“Intelligent Container.” A first group, mostly patents, is con-
cerned with container security versus attack and manipulation.
Wang and He [6] describes a system to detect any door
opening. The structural integrity of the container is monitored
by Selwyn [7]. The content of a container is monitored by
sensors in a system described by Easley and Martin [8].
Commercial solutions for container tracking have also
become available in recent years. The Secure System [9]
sends alarms on unauthorized door opening by satellite.
Additional wireless sensors can be placed inside the container.
The Container Security Box [10] can be attached to the top
of the container with a removable magnetic fixing. On arrival
at a harbor, it sends position data over the GSM network.
A version with satellite communication is also available for
offshore tracking.
RFID tag application for transport has been investigated
intensively for some time now. Recently, RFID applications
for smart harbor projects have become a new hot topic.
Siror et al. [11] discusses model calculations of a smart
port at Mombasa Port in Kenya. The smart port system
will monitor all transactions such as incoming and outgoing
freight. Siror calculates a model assuming EPC Gen 2 tags.
His model also assumes sensor equipped tags for sensitive
goods control and monitoring. Recently, the same author
extended his investigation to cover aspects of security: Smart
harbor technology will facilitate clearance of goods, allowing
faster cargo flow, avoiding pile up of cargo, saving time and
money and reducing the risk of terrorist or criminal attack [12].
Smart port applications will correlate Intelligent Container
with big data research. The special challenges of pervasive
computing and RFID for operating container terminals and
transportation systems are described by Kim and Hong [13].
The next step is applying sensor data to supply chain
management, as investigated in the DynahMat project [14] by
Jevinger et al. [15]–[17]. He investigates the use of dynamic
shelf-life modelling on chilled food, measuring temperature
and bacterial growth. He did a number of interviews with
industrial stake holders, finding:
 LANG AND JEDERMANN: INTELLIGENT CONTAINER TECHNOLOGIES: A REVIEW
- dynamic shelf life service is a highly promising approach,
allowing new business opportunities;
- users are positive towards sharing information to improve
the supply chain;
- loss was estimated by a retailer to be 6%-7% of perish-
ables; and
- it is crucial to measure temperature close to the freight
via distributed sensor nodes, not one thermometer in
a container.
The DynaMat project also discusses dynamic pricing based on
sensor data [15].
Smart tags, i.e., sensors combined with RFID communica-
tion, are reviewed by Costa et al. [18], discussing the specific
importance of smart tag technology for different kinds of
perishable food: horticulture, meat, fish, diary, bakery and
beverage. Costa identifies four major advantages of smart tags
in logistics: (1) traceability and status monitoring, (2) efficient
enhancement of processes, (3) strict quality monitoring and
(4) better information for government and customers.
The use of Intelligent Container systems for perishables has
been investigated by Mejjaouli et al. [19], focusing on supply
chain modelling, and by Aung and Chang [20], focusing on
traceability. An extensive review on wireless sensor technolo-
gies for perishables is given by Ruiz-Garcia et al. [21].
Worldwide, researchers are working on intelligent container
techniques. Some of the major projects include the following.
The European Pasteur project [22], completed in 2012,
focused on developing a smart sensor tag containing temper-
ature, pH, humidity and gas sensors and an RFID interface.
The sensor measurements were processed by a food quality
prediction model, running on the smart tag.
CHILL-ON [22], a further European project completed
in 2010, focused on the avoidance, detection and prediction
of food safety hazards in fish and poultry supply chains.
In contrast to other projects, the estimation of remaining
shelf life and food risks was not based on calculation of
a mathematical model, but on finding a chemical process with
similar kinetics and temperature dependency in the form of
a temperature-time-integrator (TTI). This TTI-Tag does not
need any battery. It can be read wirelessly over a passive
RFID interface. A major problem is fitting the TTI kinetics
to different types of products.
The recent European Frisbee project [23], completed
in 2014, focused on offline analysis of transport temperature
data [24] and shelf-life models. Although the project had no
emphasis on remote monitoring, it provides valuable insight
into cold chain problems. The effects of modifications in
the chain in regard to food losses, energy consumption and
CO2 emissions can be evaluated by a simulation tool, taking
into account typical temperature profiles from production to
consumers’ fridges from different European countries and
biological models for various food products.
Recently, Defraeye et al. [25] published a study using
a holistic approach toward the whole supply chain, thus
broadening the area of topics considered. He draws attention
to new aspects such as disinfection from insect larva, which
requires that the temperature remains under a given threshold
for a sufficient period of time during container transportation.
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He also investigates energy efficiency, finding that more
attention should be given to air flow strategies in cooled
reefers and storehouses. More data about the flow are needed.
This way, computational fluid dynamics and flow sensors come
to the attention of intelligent container researchers [26].
A large scale commercial field trial was carried out for the
transport of kiwifruits from Australia [27]. Tests were repeated
over 3 years. During each year, 20000 wireless temperature
loggers from the Israel company BT9 were placed in contain-
ers in various positions. The test revealed several problems
that have to be taken in account for fruit quality monitoring
in a commercial chain. Only 5% of the data from the two first
years were usable for reasons such as radio problems, loggers
that were packed in the wrong pallet, loggers that were not
turned off after removal from pallets, or pallets that mistakenly
bypassed manual quality verification at arrival. The measured
fruit firmness showed good agreement with a temperature-
history–based empirical model. Further research focused on
economic [28], biological [29] and technical [30] aspects,
as well as reduction of transmitted data volume by compressed
sensing [31].
Finally, The Intelligent Container Project, performed by
a German consortium including the authors, focusses on tech-
nical aspects of remote monitoring of cold chain transports and
combination of sensor data with biological models [32], [33].
The communication system includes wireless sensors packed
inside the product, a gateway for external communication by
cellular networks or satellite, and a database and web server to
access temperature history and product quality prediction [34].
Automated warning messages are generated by the embedded
processing unit of the container based on shelf life models.
Extensive field tests and temperature mapping were carried
out for the transport of bananas from Central America to
Europe [35].
III. H OW C AN R EAL -T IME DATA I MPROVE
THE S ITUATION ?
Sensor networks can supply real-time data about the trans-
port and storage processes. How might these data be used for
improvement? In logistic processes, the chances to interfere
are very limited. Imagine a cooled reefer container on a ship
suffering from a hot spot caused by a failure in stowing that
cuts off convective flow. The sensor network detects fruits
starting to rot at this hot spot.
We cannot increase cooling power because overcooling will
harm other fruits that are close to the air inlet, nor can we
change the stowing to allow the cool air to flow. But still,
valuable actions are possible.
A. Changing the Logistic Chain: Dynamic FEFO
When I know that a certain load is in danger, I can give
notice to the receiving harbor to care for this reefer first.
In road transport, I can reallocate it to a closer customer.
Even if the load definitively is lost, real-time information
is useful: I do not transport freight that will be lost at the
destination, thus saving costs, fuel and import taxes. Further-
more, I can send replacements to be shipped immediately, thus
avoiding problems with unsatisfied customers.
 6812
Fig. 1. Food loss per capita in kg/year for different parts of the world.
Adapted from Gustavsson et al. [2].
The classic paradigm of logistics is First in-First out (FIFO).
The charges are processed in order of their arrival. Due to
computer control of the logistic chain, these days a new
logistic paradigm is taking over: First expire-First out (FEFO).
Those charges that are closer to their defined expiration
date are processed preferentially. Sensor networks will allow
advancing even more: Those pallets or freight items that are
closer to decay will be processed first. The time to decay
is called “remaining shelf life.” It can be estimated and
continuously updated using real-time sensor data. This new
approach is called “dynamic FEFO.” To do the updating,
the sensor network must have implemented intelligence in the
form of a decision support tool that does shelf life estimating.
What is the impact of dynamic FEFO? At this point, when
implementation in logistics is just starting, we do not have
much evidence from real transport processes yet. On the
other hand, supply chain modelling is an established and
elaborated tool of logistic research. Several investigators have
used models to compare classic delivery to shelf-life–based
planning.
Studies to quantify the advantages of dynamic FEFO date
back to 2005. Two decision points were considered in a Monte-
Carlo simulation for a real supply chain for cooked ham [36].
The first decision takes place at a transshipment point from
where the goods are either forwarded to local customers or
to export deliveries with longer transport routes. A second
decision process was simulated at the retail stores. Goods
can be placed either immediately or after 12 or 24 hours
in the retail cabinets. The decisions were based on the time-
temperature history of the product. The statistical properties
of several influence factors were evaluated during a field study
and taken into account for the simulation: initial bacteria load,
temperature variations in different steps of the supply chain,
variations of the transport duration and typical temperature
of consumer fridges. The simulation showed that the share
of products with a critical bacteria load at the time of
consumption can be reduced from 16% to 8% by dynamic
FEFO (Fig. 2) compared with an approach based only on
the production or packing date without using the temperature
history.
The greatest advantage of dynamic FEFO was found in
a study on strawberries [37]. Based on the temperature history,
measured by data loggers, the berries are either sold directly or
forwarded to local or remote retail stores. The share of fruits
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Fig. 2. Product losses during transport of ham [36], berries [37], fish [38] and
pork [39]. In supply chain models, conventional logistic planning and planning
based on shelf-life–information are compared. Shelf-life-information reduces
losses considerably.
that could not be sold due to quality defects decreased from
37% to 23%. Slightly lower but yet important improvements
were found in the supply chain for sea bream [38] and fresh
pork chops [39] in other studies (Fig. 2).
But so far, these encouraging studies have not led to
widespread applications. A major obstacle is the fact that data
loggers need manual handling to read the temperature history.
A fully automated decision system can only be implemented
by wireless temperature data transmission, requiring adequate
microsystems with low costs and low energy consumption for
small battery size.
These concepts all estimate quality changes based on the
product’s temperature history. Additional measurement of
direct quality indicators can largely improve the accuracy of
the quality prediction.
A sensor-based warning system against mold fungus is
subject of a running research project in Bremen [40].
Also the consumer part of food loss (red bars in Figure 1)
could be considerably reduced by FEFO. Kranert et al. [41]
shows that in Germany consumer food loss is largely caused by
fixed expiration dates and could be reduced largely by dynamic
food labelling. A lot of food is obviously ok, but will not
be sold or used any more since a printed expiration date is
over. To change this, the German Federal Ministry for Food
and Agriculture has launched an initiative “too good for the
bin” in 2015 [42]. Germany discusses to remove the term of
fixed expiration date from legal texts [43].
B. Improving Storage
Cooling fruit consumes considerable electric power. Analyz-
ing a reefer or a cold store often reveals that the cooling power
might be reduced if it was possible to correctly distribute the
cool air. If some department of the refrigerated warehouse is
blocked from the convective flow of cool air, to get this part
down to a set point of, e.g., 3°C, we must increase cooling
power, which will overcool other parts and waste power. In a
current project, networks of temperature and flow sensors are
used to understand and control large cold stores. Based on
sensor data, new modelling tools are developed to describe
and improve cooling.
 LANG AND JEDERMANN: INTELLIGENT CONTAINER TECHNOLOGIES: A REVIEW
C. Early Feedback
A crucially important aspect of sensor control of transport
processes is early detection of quality processes of fruit. As an
example, we consider a quality problem on a banana plantation
in South America. The travel to Europe takes three weeks, and
a large fruit company runs one ship per week. The quality
problem begins to appear a week after leaving port. The fruits
are stressed, causing increased ethylene emission. A hotspot
is developing and spreading in the load. This happens on
a ship on the Atlantic Ocean, and nobody knows about it.
When the fruits are landed in Europe, the problem is detected
and feedback is given to the plantation to take action. But at
this point in time, three additional ships are already on sea,
with the same quality problem. Using real-time sensor data,
increased ethylene production and the development of a hot
spot can be detected while they occur, so the alarm to the
plantation would come two weeks earlier and a large loss in
fruit might be prevented.
IV. S ENSORS —W HAT D O W E N EED AND
W HAT D O W E H AVE ?
What type of sensor information do we need? Do we
have sensors available, or do we have to develop them?
Measurement of fruit and vegetable quality is reviewed by
Nicolai [44]. Sensor applications for perishable goods have
been reviewed by Dada and Thiesse [45]. These are the major
measurands:
A. Physical Measurands
1) Temperature: Cooled reefers have two or three tempera-
ture sensors. Applying sensor nets in real containers, we found
that local deviations from the average value are much larger
than expected [46]. Especially to detect hot spots, a high
granulation of sensor nodes is needed.
Relative air humidity is usually kept between 85% and 95%
in fruit transport and storage. Lower values cause weight loss
by evaporation, whereas higher values increase the risk for
mold fungus infections. Deviations from the optimal humidity
set point can be used as additional input for the shelf-life
estimator.
Furthermore, high humidity values close to condensation are
problematic for several sensor types such as CO2 and airflow.
Condensation can scatter light on lenses or mirrors and form
a thermal bypass between the heater and thermopiles.
There are many commercial sensors for temperature and
humidity. An example used by the authors is the SHT75 by
Sensirion [47]. This is a fully calibrated digital-output low
power sensor. Temperature is measured with a band-gap sen-
sor, achieving a resolution of 0.01°C and an accuracy of 0.3°C.
Humidity is measured capacitively, resolution is 0.05% relative
humidity, accuracy is 1.8%. Power consumption is 2μW in
sleep mode, 3mW when measuring.
Airflow or airspeed sensors are another important compo-
nent to monitor in order to verify the cooling conditions inside
containers or warehouses. Miniaturized sensors based on the
thermoelectrical principle measure not only the magnitude but
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also the direction of airflow. Two thermopiles are placed to
the left and right of a resistive heater [48].
An extended sensor with additional thermopiles for 2-
dimensional measurement of the airflow is currently under
development.
2) Acceleration: Mechanical shock is a major cause of loss
of food. It occurs frequently when containers are handled
roughly by the cranes. Quite often, they are released some
10 cm above the ground and then dropped down, which results
in dents in the fruit. To detect mechanical shock, accelerom-
eters must be active 100% of the time; no duty cycling is
possible. Since modern accelerometers have extremely low
power consumption, this is possible even for battery-powered
sensor nodes.
Today, a large variety of sensor nodes is available. Ambient
Systems provides sensor nodes with housing for commer-
cial and industrial applications. Battery lifetime is up to
5 years [49]. A common open source platform for research
and prototype applications is the TelosB / TPR2400 by Cross-
bow [50]. The board with size of 6,5cm ∗ 3 cm ∗ 0,6cm,
and weight of 23 grams contains a radio with integrated
antenna and a low power CPU, running TinyOS. It operates
at 2,4 to 2,48 GHz and is ZigBee compliant. The standard
sensor equipment contains temperature, humidity and light
measurement.
Another evolving possibility of sensor networks applica-
bility is the use of sub-GHz networks where direct sensor
node to base-station communication is possible, owing to
superior signal penetration of lower frequencies in comparison
to common 2.4 GHz. DASH7 and LoRaWAN are two open
standards dealing in such sub-GHz standards.
B. Chemical Measurands
The measurement of CO2 gas concentration is important in
two ways: On the one hand, an increasing CO2 concentration
is an indicator of metabolic activity. For example, if bananas
turn from their green unripe state to climacteric ripening phase,
their metabolic activity increases by a factor between 5 and 10.
On the other hand, an increased CO2 concentration is
often applied to delay the ripening of fruits. Such a modi-
fied atmosphere can be achieved on the container level by
an automated air-flap control system. In other applications,
the fruits are packed inside a special foil inside the boxes that
repeals the CO2 . Especially in the latter case, there is a large
uncertainty as to whether the desired CO2 concentration is
actually achieved by self-respiration of the fruits.
Optical CO2 sensors use absorption maxima in the near-
infrared range. Challenges for miniature sensors are the
required length of the optical path to achieve a sufficient
attenuation of the typical spectral line at 4.3 μm.
Alcohols indicate anaerobic fermentation, which generally
means strong degradation or complete loss of food. Measure-
ment of alcohols is done by chemical sensors, such as Pt doped
SnO2 thin films [51].
Oxygen promotes growth of aerobic pathogens and spoilage
organisms, such as mold, and measuring oxygen can be
important within airproof food packaging. Chemical O2 sen-
sors are reviewed by [52]. Very precise measurement is
 6814
Fig. 3. Ethylene efflux over time [59], adapted from [60]. In climacteric
state, ethylene is easy to measure. To detect the beginning of growth in
preclimacteric state, a resolution of some 10 ppb is needed.
done using a physical principle: paramagnetic measurement.
Recently, this method has been integrated in a MEMS chip by
Krippner et al. [53].
C. Biological Measurands
Food is subject to biological attack. The application of
biosensing in food transport is just beginning. The main
obstacle is probe sampling. For example, entering a banana
container in transport to take a sample with a cotton swab
is impossible. A biosensor can be put directly on a fruit, but
then this specific fruit must be infected to trigger an alarm
signal. An important aggressor is mold, which can be grown
on a breeding ground and detected by means of dielectric
spectroscopy [54] or optical image recognition [40]. Dielectric
spectroscopy has also been used for MEMS based detection of
Escherichia coli, a dangerous pathogen growing on food [55].
The alternative is to detect gaseous metabolic products of
the pathogens. Concina et. al. used an electronic nose to
detect microbial contamination of tomatoes [56]. Electronic
nose systems are very powerful sensing systems, but it is
difficult to achieve the selectivity needed to trigger a warning
in a transport system. An approach reaching farther might
be to combine two sets of indices: indices for risk (tem-
perature history and specific transport data) and indices for
infection (gas measurement) to calculate a specific risk fig-
ure, e.g., a “mold infection risk number”. This type of risk
estimator is not yet realized, and it will be one of the most
interesting challenges in Intelligent Container research in the
coming years.
V. E THYLENE
Up until now, we have been measuring the environment
of the transported fruit to determine the remaining shelf life.
But we can also look at the fruit: Do they themselves tell us
something about their well-being? Actually they do, and the
clue to understanding them is ethylene gas. Ethylene (C2 H4 )
is a colorless, odorless and nontoxic gas that acts as a gaseous
phyto-hormone of fruits. When bananas (and many other
fruits) ripen, they emit ethylene—on the other hand, when
bananas feel ethylene, they start ripening. To trigger the
ripening of a climacteric fruit, an ethylene concentration of
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less than 1 ppm is sufficient [57]. This is why fruit ripen
simultaneously.
For example, one box with 20 kg of bananas in a container
can start an unwanted ripening process due to fungus infection
or mechanical stress during packing. During ripening, the eth-
ylene production rate increases to 5 μl/(kg·h) at 15°C [58].
After 2 days, the single “ripe” box can lead to a critical
ethylene concentration of 0.1 ppm in the container with a free
air volume of 47.4 m3 . After two more days at this ethylene
concentration, ripening is initiated in the remainder of the
container load.
Not only does ripening make fruit emit ethylene, but stress
like wounds or attack by insects does as well. What do we need
to measure? Figure 3 shows the ethylene efflux rate of apples
and bananas over time. Bananas are climacteric fruits, meaning
they stay in a premature state (green banana) for a long time,
but when ripening starts, the process cannot be stopped until
final decay. During ripening, ethylene concentration in the
container will be in the ppmv (part per million in volume)
range. But what we want to measure is the small rise in
the preclimacteric state that indicates that something will be
happening soon. To do this, we have to measure some tens
part per billion (ppb). Furthermore, a container full of fruit
will include a lot of other species from organic chemistry,
like alcohols. This means measurement must also be highly
selective.
The laboratory techniques to measure plant ethylene are
reviewed by Christescu et al. [61]. The important meth-
ods are photoacoustic spectroscopy, electrochemical sensors
and electrocatalytic sensors, gas chromatography and infrared
spectroscopy. The applicability of these methods in logistic
processes is reviewed by Janssen et al. [59]. To get high
resolution and selectivity, three methods are promising: non-
dispersive infrared spectroscopy (NDIR), gas chromatogra-
phy (GC) and electrocatalytic sensors.
Electrochemical sensors are already commercially available.
Membrapor offers an ethylene sensor resolving 0.1 ppm [62].
The practical application in transport and long-term stability
are being tested.
NDIR uses the absorption of infrared light by ethylene at
10.6 μm, when a specific molecule vibration of the ethylene
molecule is excited. A detection limit of 5 ppm can be
achieved [59]. A commercial system by smartGAS [63] has
a resolution of 20 ppm (3σ ). This limit may be reduced by
applying a preconcentrator, but the lower bbp range cannot
be reached [59]. Recently, a new type of IR spectroscopic
sensors using hollow waveguides has been described. When
they are combined with a preconcentrator, the ppb range is
accessible [64]. At this moment, these systems need a hol-
low waveguide, an FTIR spectrometer, a quantum cascade
laser and a liquid-nitrogen–cooled mercury-cadmium–telluride
detector [65], which makes them heavy and expensive.
Development of a smaller handheld system is in progress [66].
Gas chromatography is an established method for gas detec-
tion, but commercial systems are large and expensive, and they
need an operator to do the measurements. First experiments on
micro-GCs were reported in 1979 by Terry et al. [67]. Current
MEMS-based microGCs and preconcentrators are describes
 LANG AND JEDERMANN: INTELLIGENT CONTAINER TECHNOLOGIES: A REVIEW
Fig. 4. Schematic of a miniaturized gas analysis system combined of a GC
(gas chromatograph) and a preconcentrator [59]. Detection is done by a
MOX gas sensor and a humidity sensor.
Fig. 5. Output signal from the micro-GC, measured with 400 ppb ethylene
in air. A resolution in the 10 ppb range is achieved [59].
by [68]–[70]. For logistics, small and autonomous GC systems
have been developed recently [59], [71].
Figure 4 shows a system that includes gas chromatography
and preconcentration. Resolution is done by a MEMS chro-
matographic column packed with Carbosieve SII, a commer-
cial material for the stationary phase of CGs. For a detector,
a metal oxide semiconductor (MOX) gas sensor is used. Envi-
ronmental air is the carrier gas. The system is automatized,
so it can work without an operator and report regular measure-
ments on its own. To increase resolution, a preconcentrator is
used, also made by MEMS technology. The preconcentrator
collects ethylene for some minutes, and then the adsorbed
ethylene is set free by heating. This way, a short strong impulse
of ethylene is injected in the GC.
Figure 5 shows a chromatogram made with this system
using a test gas of 400 ppb ethylene in air. The signals of
the MOX gas sensor (blue solid line, left scale) are given
together with the signal of the humidity sensor (red dotted
line, right scale). The big challenge of micro-GC measurement
of ethylene is to separate the ethylene peak from the water
peak, which is almost overlapping. In the measurement, a noise
equivalent (+/− 3σ ) ethylene concentration of 4 ppb is
achieved. We conclude that it is possible to measure ethylene
down to a concentration of 10 ppb. The preconcentrator
and GC-column of these systems are made using silicon
technology. Recently, we had an encouraging experience
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6815
Fig. 6. Signal attenuation per meter as a function of frequency for bananas
inside a reefer container [34].
using additive manufacturing (stereo-lithography printing) for
GC-columns [71].
VI. C OMMUNICATION IN THE S ENSOR N ETWORK
To estimate shelf-life losses, it is necessary to measure
the temperature directly in the center of the food packing.
Unfortunately, the propagation of radio waves is hindered
by the high signal attenuation of water-containing products.
Communication is only possible if messages are forwarded
inside the network by means of multi-hop protocols. Using
a physical model [34], we can show that most problems can
be overcome by reducing the operating frequency to a range
below 1 GHz (Fig. 6).
In a global network, data have to be exchanged between the
systems of different companies and players in the cold chain.
Hardware platforms of different manufacturers have to be sup-
ported. A high level of standardization can be achieved if data
transmission is organized in accordance with standard Inter-
net protocols. The IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal
Area Networks (6LoWPAN) protocol enables wireless sensor
nodes to be addressed like any other Internet device. The
Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) [34] is especially
adapted to the requirements of Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
communication.
VII. D ECISION S UPPORT T OOLS
For various reasons, it is beneficial to evaluate the sensor
data directly inside the container.
- Communication costs can be reduced if warning messages
are transmitted only when a hazard is detected.
- External communication can fail; an autonomous system
can react to critical situations, e.g., by lowering the set
point. Autonomous systems are robust with respect to
communication failure.
- A human operator is not able to handle full temperature
records of various pallets in hundreds of containers.
The freight supervision unit or even the sensor nodes in the
wireless network inside the container can be made smart by
 6816
implementing a local decision system. A biological model,
adapted to the special properties of the transported food
product [34], was implemented on the sensor node level.
The thermal balance model, which was used to predict
the risk of hot spots, required the product’s and the air
supply’s temperatures as input parameters. It was therefore
implemented on the freight supervision unit, where both data
sources are available.
VIII. S PATIAL I NTERPOLATION
In the ideal case, each box or pallet is equipped with
a local sensor. Due to hardware costs, this cannot be achieved
in practical supply chain applications. Even if many sensors
are applied, some sensors might fail or have communication
problems. In general, the local temperature of a certain box
in the container can only be retrieved by interpolation of the
available neighboring sensors.
Measurements are often overlaid with tolerances or other
local effects. Due to careless handling during installation,
some sensors are placed correctly in the center of the box,
whereas others are closer to the cardboard walls and thus
measure the surface temperature. Such local effects can be
reduced by spatial smoothing of the data.
Kriging is the method of choice for spatial interpolation and
smoothing of spatially uncorrelated random effects. Neighbor-
ing measurements for a target point are weighted by a factor
that is calculated according to the statistical distance of the two
points. This statistical distance is described by the variogram,
which gives the expected squared difference of measurements
at the two points as a function of their distance. Unfortunately,
estimation of the variogram function requires collection of
a large set of measurement points by a data fusion center.
Up until now, there is no satisfactory solution for in-network
estimation of the variogram directly by smart distributed
sensors.
Mathematical requirements are largely simplified, or a full
interpolation has to be calculated, but only the field maxima,
i.e., the location and peak value of temperature hot-spots.
Smoothing by local polynomial regression gives sufficient
accuracy. In a simulation, the location error was below 2.5%
for measurements with a noise amplitude equivalent to 10% of
the maximum field values [72]. This method is well suited for
distributed implementation. After initial smoothing, the sen-
sors with the highest local values are estimated by a step-wise
climb search. These sensors scan their neighborhood for the
highest smoothed field value.
IX. C ONCLUSION AND O UTLOOK
Two challenges await the Intelligent Container project:
transfer of the achievements to application and new sensor-
ial problems. Sensor network applications are being brought
created worldwide. More and more companies are producing
sensor nodes and offer implementations. Concerning interna-
tional transport, there are also legal questions to be solved:
Who owns the data? Will a court accept data from a sensor
node? Concerning technology, the energy consumption of
sensor nodes is still a big challenge. Electronics need less
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 18, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
and less energy, but communication still eats up batteries.
Thus, the trend toward local decision-making remains strong.
Concerning measurement, the problem how to detect mold in
food is still unsolved. New sensor projects are concerned with
the detection of mold infection in containers [40].
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 6818
Walter Lang studied physics at Munich Univer-
sity and received the Diploma degree in Raman
spectroscopy of crystals with low symmetry in
1982, and the Ph.D. degree in engineering from
Munich Technical University on flame-induced
vibrations. In 1987, he joined the Fraunhofer Insti-
tute for Solid State Technology, Munich, where
he worked on microsystems technology. In 1995,
he became the Head of the Sensors Department,
Institute of Micromachining and Information Tech-
nology, Hahn-Schickard Gesellschaft (HSG-IMIT),
Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, where he was involved in sensors for
flow and angular rate, sensor test, and modeling. In 2003, he joined the
University of Bremen. He is heading the Institute for Microsensors, -Actuators
and -Systems and the Speaker with the Microsystems Center Bremen.
His projects cover sensors and microfluidic systems, sensor networks for
logistic applications, and the embedding of sensors in sensorial materials.
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 18, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
Reiner Jedermann received the Diploma degree in
electrical engineering from the University of Bremen
in 1990. He finished the Ph.D. thesis on decision
tools for freight supervision in 2009. After two
employments on embedded processing of speech
and audio signals, in 2004, he became a Research
Associate with the Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, University of Bremen. His current research
focus is the analysis of spatial temperature profiles
and the implementation of automated remote quality
monitoring of fruits in containers and refrigerated
warehouses.