Internet of Things for Smart Ports:

Technologies and Challenges

Yongsheng Yang, Meisu Zhong, Haiqing Yao, Fang Yu,
Xiuwen Fu, and Octavian Postolache

N
owadays, the Internet of Things (IoT) can be con-
sidered an important technological revolution
related to smart cities, smart homes, smart factories
and smart ports implementations. As the presence of smart
sensing systems in ports becomes a reality, different opera-
tion areas are working today in automatic mode. Examples of
challenging projects related to smart ports in the IoT era can be
found from Europe to Asia, to Australia, and to North Amer-
ica; in all of these new architecture implementations, sensing
technologies play a key role. This paper highlights the main re-
quirements and the key ideas for each ports, sensing solution
and also the challenges related to the calibration and testing of
distributed sensing systems associated with the main equip-
ment that compose the world largest ports, such as quayside
cranes, automated guided vehicles for container handling
and yard cranes. Details of the architecture and operations
and sensing systems for smart ports are described. Commu-
nication standards for smart ports are discussed, and smart
ports implementation examples regarding structural health
monitoring are considered. Conclusions and future research
opportunities in the IoT era are addressed in the final section
of the paper.
IoT in Smart Ports
Internet of Things (IoT), as defined by the IEEE, is a network
of items including sensors and embedded systems which are
connected to the Internet and enable physical objects to gather
and exchange data [1]. As IoT rises into dominance, sensors
are playing a pivotal role in measuring the physical charac-
teristics of objects and converting them into numerical values,
which can be read by another device or by the user. In recent
years, the global sensor market has expanded year by year, and
it is expected to maintain high growth rates in the future. If we
look at the future-oriented projects of various governments,
such as Industry 4.0 of Germany and Made in China 2025 of
China, the key to these projects is the data provided by sensors.
Sensors are widely applied in different fields such as smart
power grids, smart buildings, smart industries, smart cities,
and smart ports.
A smart port may be defined as a fully automated port
where all devices are connected via the so-called IoT Smart
Port. A network of smart sensors and actuators, wireless
devices, and data centers make up the key infrastruc-
ture of the smart port, which allows the port authorities
to provide essential services in a faster and more efficient
manner. The major drivers in smart ports are productivity
and efficiency gains. Various sensors such as inertial sen-
sors, ultrasonic sensors, eddy current sensors, radar, lidar,
imaging sensors, and RFID readers and tags are used to col-
lect the required data in order to transform the “port” into
a “smart port.” Pratama et al. proposed a positioning and
obstacle avoidance algorithm for Automatic Guided Ve-
hicles (AGV) in a partially known environment based on
laser measurement systems and encoders [2]. Li and Xu
proposed a novel fusion positioning strategy for land vehi-
cles, which integrated the micro electromechanical-based
inertial measurement unit and virtual sensor, i.e., a sliding-
mode observer [3]. Kaloop et al. presented steel container
crane movement analysis and assessment based on struc-
tural health monitoring, in which accelerometers were used
to monitor the dynamic crane behavior, and a 3-D finite
element model was designed to express the static displace-
ment of the crane under the different loads [4]. Carullo and
Parvis presented an ultrasonic sensor to measure the dis-
tance from the ground to selected points of a motor vehicle
[5]. Fu et al. proposed a computer vision-based procedure
with image sensors to determine the position of one con-
tainer in the horizontal plane [6].

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Project 6154004, Shanghai Science
and Technology Commission Project 14170501500, Shanghai Science and Technology Commission Project 16DZ2340400,
Shanghai Science and Technology Commission Project 17595810300 and Instituto de Telecomunicações, IT-IUL and
Fundação para Ciencia e Tecnologia Portugal.

34 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine February 2018

1094-6969/18/$25.00©2018IEEE
Fig. 1. The layout of an automated container terminal.
Port Architecture and Operation
An automated container terminal consists of the berthing
area at the quayside, the travelling area of AGVs and a stor-
age yard. More specifically, the berthing area is equipped with
quay cranes (QCs) for unloading and loading containers, and
the travelling area is used by AGVs to move containers from
the berthing area to the storage yard where the storage yard
stores import and export containers before further delivery by
trucks or trains. An automated container terminal mainly uti-
lizes equipment, such as QCs, AGVs, and yard cranes (YCs),
for the loading and unloading operation of containers. Thus,
the QCs are used to discharge containers from the ship to the
AGVs or for loading containers from AGVs to the ship. AGVs
implement the horizontal transportation between the shore
operation and yard operation, and YCs are in charge of put-
ting the containers in the corresponding locations in the yard.
An example of an automated container terminal is Xiamen
Ocean Gate, the first one in China, which has set the stan-
dard of a global automation terminal handling system. As
Fig. 2. Automated port terminal operations: a) loading and unloading the ship, b) AGV container operation between quayside and storage yard [7].
February 2018 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
a novelty at Xiamen Ocean Gate, two Rail-mounted Gantry
Cranes (RMG) are deployed in the front and back of the yard.
The RMG gets the container from an AGV-mate and then un-
loads it into the storage area in the yard or gets the container
from the storage area and then unloads it onto a delivery truck.
A layout of a typical automated container terminal is illus-
trated in Fig. 1.
Generally speaking, the container terminal operation
mode can be divided into two processes: loading process and
unloading process. Fig. 2a shows the concrete operating pro-
cedure of loading and unloading a ship. The AGV receives
discharge instructions (loading instructions) and then puts the
container, which was unloaded by QCs, on the yard blocks. In
the unloading procedure: the main trolley first gets the con-
tainer from the ship and puts it onto the transfer platform
on the QC; then the portal trolley gets the container from the
transfer platform and unloads it to the AGV; finally, the AGV
puts the container on the AGV-mate in front of the block of the
yard by horizontal transport. The AGV receives the next task
35
 Table 1 - The comparisons between the traditional and automated container terminal
Port
Characteristics
Traditional Port Automated Port (e.g., Xiamen Port)
Operating subjects People and machines Automatic systems and equipment
Semi-automatic/automatic
Quayside operations Quayside cranes
Quayside cranes
Container trucks
Container trucks
Horizontal transportation Straddle carriers
Straddle carriers
Automatic Guided Vehicles
Yard operations Rubber-tired gantry cranes Automatic rail mounted gantry cranes
Techniques/information based operation
Labor based operation
High automation and intelligence
Operation efficiency Limited efficiency
High and improvable efficiency
Low dispatching efficiency
Intelligent and coordinated dispatching
Low construction costs High construction costs
Low maintenance costs High maintenance costs
Economic efficiency High labor costs Low labor costs
High transportation costs Low transportation costs
Low economic benefits High economic benefits
High intelligence
Low reliability
High reliability
Security supervision and control Slow response
Fast response
High labor cost
More safety
Sustainable development
High energy consumption
Environmental protection Low energy consumption
Heavy pollution
Little pollution
Sustainability No Yes

instruction at the same time, so it will move on to do the next
mission. The operation sequence is shown in Fig. 2b [7]. The
use of an AGV-mate reduces the waiting time of the operation
of AGVs and improves the efficiency of the actual operation.
The AGV-mate has been widely used at the Xiamen Ocean
Gate automated container terminal and is considered part of
the implemented optimization process.
There are some new types of automatic equipment, such as
ZPMC's new gantry cranes, which were designed for container
ships with 24 transverse container rows. They have 74-me-
trejibs, weigh 2,400 tons and can handle a maximum payload
of 110 tons. They are very well-equipped to handle the first
18,000-TEU ships with their 23 container rows, which have
just gone into service. ZPMC's new QCs are over 138 m tall, the
speed of the main trolley arriving at 240 m/min, and the speed
of the gantry goes up to about 45 m/min. They weigh 1,850,000
kg each and can lift four 20-foot containers at one time, han-
dling up to 100,000 kg in one lift. They have a 69.5 m lifting
height and extended reach, capable of handling the 25 contain-
ers-wide new generation of ultra large container ships (ULCS).
Through the comparison and analysis between the tradi-
tional container terminal and automated container terminal
listed in Table 1, it is clear that the automated port possesses
many advantages and superiorities, especially in saving labor
costs, improving the operation efficiency and economic bene-
fits, reducing energy consumption, improving the level of safe
operation, and promoting the image of the port and even the
image of the city, etc. [8]. According to the estimations, the au-
tomated container terminal can save at least 25% more energy
and reduce 15% more carbon emissions than the traditional
terminal as a result of using power-driven vehicles. The whole
terminal's modules communicate with a central control unit of
the terminal control room. Therefore, the automated container
terminal has become the inevitable development trend of the
future, implementing technologies associated with distributed
smart sensors and actuators, data communication and Internet
connectivity for remote and automatic operating, control opti-
mization based on artificial intelligence, and big data analysis.
Sensing Systems for Smart Ports
The automatic container terminal implementation requires the
use of sensing systems that are employed in tasks such as the
structural health monitoring of the quayside cranes, container
position detection and handling, AGV localization, naviga-
tion and control, etc. The current developments in the field of
optical fiber sensors, highly sensitive magnetic sensors, and
MEMS inertial measurement units that enable the interoper-
able wireless protocols, including the latest developments of

36 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine February 2018

 Table 2 - Main sensing technologies used for structural health monitoring in smart ports
Parameter
Type Relative
Working Range Environmental Adaptability Applications
Cost
Stress and strength reserve of the
Sensitive to water, humidity and
Strain gauge $ Long-term monitor metal structure in cranes and
electromagnetic interference
RMG
Resistant to dust, water, Stress and strength reserve of the
FBG $$$ Long-term monitor humidity, and electromagnetic metal structure in cranes and
interference RMG
Resistant to dust, water, and
Flaws detection, such as micro-
Inductive eddy oil interference; Sensitive to
$$ Short-time monitor cracks, weld cracks and plastic
current sensor surface roughness, surface
deformation
coating and material
Sensitive to reflection problem, Flaws detection, such as micro-
Ultrasonic sensor $$ Short-time monitor noise with the same frequency cracks, weld cracks and plastic
and cross problem deformation

4G and 5G that will permit the extension of the Internet con-
nectivity of the sensing systems, represent big opportunities
for new developments in the field of smart ports. Thus, new
smart sensing architectures for container identification and
management, vehicle identification and management, loca-
tion and navigation services, and the safety of port terminals
equipment related to structural health monitoring are based
on contact and remote sensing solutions.
Basically, the objective of structural health monitoring
(SHM) is to ascertain if damage is present or not based on
measured dynamic or static characteristics of a system to
be monitored. In smart ports, the contents of SHM focus on
the identification of stress and strength reserve of the metal
structure in cranes and RMG and on flaws detection, such
as micro-cracks, weld cracks and plastic deformation, in the
process of structural failure where the stress under load is
obviously beyond the allowable value. The SHM must be im-
plemented during the entire life-cycle of the equipment. For
example, the oblique rods of QCs undertake significant load
and their installation symmetry must be ensured in the manu-
facturing stage with strain monitoring technology [9]. During
the operation and maintenance process, the health monitoring
of the bearing structure in the crane and RMG should be con-
tinuously executed.
The primary sensing technologies used for SHM in smart
ports are shown in Table 2. Among these technologies, the
strain gauge is the most popular sensing element. The gauge
translating the structural strain into resistance change is in-
expensive and stable. Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) is used to
sense the influence of strain through a frequency shift and
magnitude change of the reflected beam and is a more ex-
pensive long-term monitoring technology than the strain
gauge. In addition, the eddy current probes and ultrasonic
probes are two on-line defect detection technologies. In the
electromagnetic field, cracks and other defects will affect
the size and shape of the eddy current in electric conductive
materials that are detected using eddy current probes that
include exclusively coils or coils and magnetic sensors such
as the giant magneto resistors [10]. For the ultrasonic sen-
sor, the presence of flaws in the uniform material will cause
the discontinuity of the material, which can cause the acous-
tic impedance to be inconsistent. With the reflection theorem,
it is known that the ultrasonic wave will be reflected at the
interface of two different acoustic impedances, and the mag-
nitude of the reflected energy is related to the difference in
the acoustic impedance of the interface, the orientation and
the size of the interface [11]. Therefore, a crack situation in the
metal structure of QCs and RMG can be inferred by analyz-
ing the signal measured by inductive eddy current sensors
and ultrasonic sensors.
The proximity, level and distance measurement sensors are
mainly for anti-collision monitoring and location applications
of cranes, RMG and AGV in smart ports, where the ultrasonic,
inductive, laser and IR sensors are the most common, as de-
tailed in Table 3.
Navigation sensors for AGV and unmanned container
trucks, which are the main container handling equipment
in smart ports from shore area to container yard, mainly in-
clude RFID-based navigation systems (HF and UHF RFID
solutions), differential GPS systems, laser-based navigation
systems, inertial navigation systems and encoders, compared
in Table 4 [12].
Camera and laser sensors are also used for container moni-
toring, operation safety, non-destructive testing and diagnosis
[13]. In smart ports, the transport and storage of containers
has to be under whole-process monitoring, where the identi-
fication of the container number can be achieved by camera,
the location of the container in an AGV or truck can be deter-
mined by a laser sensor (Fig. 3a), and the automated grab of the
container with the crane spreader and the automatic position
alignment between the AGV and container can also be granted
by camera and image processing (Fig. 3b).

February 2018 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 37

 Table 3 - The comparison between the distance measurement sensors in smart ports
Parameter
Type Relative
Effective Range Environmental Adaptability Applications
Cost
Sensitive to water, humidity
Anti-collision of quayside crane
Ultrasonic sensor $$ High and wind interference; Long
and RMG in track
response time
Sensitive to dust, water and Anti-collision of spreader, main
Laser and Lidar $$ Very high oil interference; Very short trolley, portal trolley, quayside
response time crane, AGV and RMG
Resistant to dust, water,
Electromagnetic humidity, wind and oil Anti-collision of quayside crane
$ Very low
induction sensor interference; Short response and RMG in track
time
Sensitive to sun and reflector Anti-collision of spreader, main
Infrared radiation
$ Low interference; Short response trolley and portal trolley in
sensor
time quayside crane

Table 4 - The comparison between the navigation sensors in smart ports

Parameter
Type Relative Measurement
Accuracy Environmental adaptability
Cost of the position
Sensitive to foundation
HF and UHF RFID solutions $$ High Absolute position
settlement
Sensitive to metal and other
Differential GPS systems $$$ Very high Absolute position
shelter
Sensitive to dust, water,
Laser- based navigation systems $$$ Very high Absolute position humidity, oil, sun and
reflector interferences
Sensitive to cumulative error,
Inertial navigation systems $$ High Relative position
vibration and slip
Sensitive to cumulative error,
Encoders $ Low Relative position
vibration and slip

Fig. 3. Container monitor with a) lidar setup, and b) camera system setup.

38 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine February 2018

 Table 5 - Wireless communication technologies comparison
Wireless Technologies ZigBee Wi-Fi
Popularity + +++
Speed 250 kbps 300 Mbps
Relative Cost $ $$
Frequency 784 MHz 2.4 GHz/5GHz
Range (outdoor) 100 m 100 m
Public Access - +
Compatibility IEEE 802.15.4 IEEE 802.11 ac/n
Communication Standards for Smart Ports
In automated ports, the tendency to “go wireless” is increas-
ingly obvious due to its flexible-deployment advantage. But
there are still some challenging issues during the implementa-
tion of wireless transmission. The most challenging one is that
these wireless devices are prone to be affected by big metal
parts and high-power electrical appliances. To tackle this issue,
anti-jamming antenna technologies are developed, in which
antenna gains can be adjustable self-adaptively according to
the interference situation. With the development of anti-jam-
ming technologies, the application of wireless communication
will become wider and wider.
ZigBee protocol: ZigBee communication protocol is one of the
protocols with the highest applicability in wireless sensor net-
works. Due to its easy-deployment and ad-hoc features, it has
been widely applied as part of IoT [1] architectures. As far as
an automated port is concerned, the application of ZigBee or
WSN mainly focuses on structural health monitoring. In this
case the ZigBee nodes are equipped with a strain gauge sensor
and deployed on the crucial parts of the port equipment (e.g.,
yard crane). The ZigBee sensors transmit the sampling data to
the base station via multi-hops periodically. Since ZigBee pro-
tocol supports the ad-hoc paradigm, ZigBee sensors organize
into a network with each other automatically, significantly fa-
cilitating the deployment of the monitoring system and later
lowering the maintenance costs.
Wi-Fi protocol: Wi-Fi protocol seems to be the most welcom-
ing wireless protocol in the area of automated ports. Due to its
wide-coverage and broad-bandwidth advantages, Wi-Fi pro-
tocol is mainly used for video surveillance and AGV remote
control [14]. For instance, the camera deployed on the front of
a yard crane will deliver a continuous video flow to the surveil-
lance center via Wi-Fi. Through video recognition, the coding
information of containers can be easily known. It is worth not-
ing that to resist the signal interference from regular Wi-Fi (i.e.,
2.4 G UHF), the frequency of Wi-Fi in an automated port is al-
ways 5G SHF ISM.
RF long range data communication: RF long range data com-
munication is a point-to-point wireless communication
February 2018 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
RF 4G
++ +
9.6 kbps 100 Mbps/1 Gbps
$$ $$
1700-2100 MHz,
433 MHz
2500-2700 MHz
20 km -
+ ++
802.11 ac LTE
technology. The advantages of RF communication are twofold:
1) the wireless transmission of RF can achieve 5 km, much far-
ther than other wireless transmission solutions; and 2) due to
the point-to-point feature of RF, users communicate with each
other through RF terminals directly and without extra infra-
structure support. But the disadvantages of RF are also evident.
The anti-jamming ability of RF is poor, and data transmit speed
is only 9.6 kbps. In the automated port, RF is mainly applied in
the communication between ships and ports and among staff in
remote areas without extra infrastructure support.
4G and 5G solutions: As the fourth generation of mobile tele-
communications technology, the role of 4G in an automated
port tends to be more and more important. Compared with
Wi-Fi, it presents two advantages: 1) the cost of infrastructure
is lower since the infrastructure is often developed by national
operators; and 2) its coverage and flexibility is much better. Ex-
cept in some extreme cases, most areas can be covered by base
stations of 4G. Whether it is inside or outside the port area,
4G can provide sustainable transmission service. Therefore,
most truck-carried terminals are equipped with 4G modules.
Since the bandwidth of 4G is relatively limited, transmitting
high-resolution video stream is still a challenging task. But the
fast development of 5G technology, “tactile Internet technol-
ogy” with broader bandwidth, can make up this performance
shortcoming.
Table 5 presents a comparison list of mainstream wireless
technologies and relevant applications involved in an auto-
mated port.
Implementation of Smart Port Sensing
Systems
In this section, details are provided about the identification,
localization, tracking and quayside crane health structure mon-
itoring applications in smart ports. Identification of stress and
the strength reserve of the metal structure in cranes and RMG is
a very important aspect of SHM. Yao et al. developed a portable
wireless strain monitoring system with some IoT technologies
such as ZigBee and WSN (Fig. 4a) [9]. This system combines
self-organization, self-recovery and low power consumption
and aims to improve the monitoring efficiency and meet the se-
rious challenges within SHM of quayside cranes (Fig. 4b).
39
Fig. 4. Wireless Sensor Network for strain monitoring on a quayside crane: a) the wireless sensor network kit for strain monitoring, b) the distribution of the
WSN nodes on the level of the metallic structures [9].
Computer Vision Application for
Container Identification
Serial numbers are the basic container information for man-
agement in terminals, yards and customs (Fig. 5a). Computer
vision can be applied for automatic identification of the
container number and to collect this information as part of
automatic real-time logistics, solving in this way the critical
issue of container automated management as was imple-
mented in some Chinese ports [15]. Using this vision system
can provide automatic identification of the container num-
ber, seal integrity, the state of the door handle and the lock
and door orientation. The system architecture is shown in
Fig. 5b. The packing position and door location information
are also important for the automatic transport of containers
which have been monitored by the camera and laser sensor.
This system provides the packing position and door location
information of containers on AGV or trucks for transport op-
erations in port, which can facilitate automated management,
reduce manpower and improve the container operation
efficiency.
40 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
Finally, an example of AGV navigation based on RFID is
detailed. In this application, an RFID tag array is installed on
the ground of an AGV operating area, and the AGV obtains
the geographic location information stored in the RFID tags
through two readers, which are respectively installed in the
front and back of the AGV, as shown in Fig. 6. Thousands of
RFID tags working in 13.56 MHz band with 1 ms reading cycle
are used for AGV positioning and AGV path definition using
matrix RFID tags in cells 2 m x 2 m. A drawback of this tech-
nology is that the foundation settlement caused by heavy duty
conditions can lead to the RFID reading failure and the possi-
bility of collision between the AGV during the transportation
process. Besides AGV navigation, this RFID tag is also used for
the localization and anti-collision of the quayside cranes.
Conclusions
Currently, smart ports represent a reality where automatic con-
tainer terminals deploy smart sensing systems to improve the
performance associated with different terminal tasks. Modern
remote sensing technologies such as RFID for identification
February 2018
Fig. 5. Automatic identification of container in a smart port: a) container ID and camera system, b) distributed container identification system.

and localization and cameras and embedded computer vision
algorithms may contribute to safer and reduced time handling
operations compared to classical container terminals. Safety
conditions are improved using several possible solutions for
structural health structure monitoring for quayside cranes.
Robust wireless networking and Internet connectivity present
important challenges in the port terminal scenario, consider-
ing the metallic obstacles present. Different communication
solutions that are currently used in automated terminal were
mentioned, giving special attention to the ZigBee WSN for
strain monitoring. Besides the sensing solutions that we pre-
sented that currently are part of the optimization of container

February 2018 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 41


Fig. 6. RFID application for AGV navigation in a smart port: a) 13.56 MHz RFID
tag, b) RFID tag and RFID readers distribution.
handling activities in smart ports, we are convinced that smart
sensing and IoT technologies together will play an important
role today and in future port development.
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Yongsheng Yang received the Ph.D. degree from Nanjing Uni-
versity of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China. He
is currently a Professor in the Logistics and Engineering Col-
lege, Shanghai Maritime University, China. He is Director of
the Science and Technology Department, China Mechanical
Engineering Society.
February 2018
Meisu Zhong (zhongmeisu@163.com) is currently pursuing
the Ph.D. degree at the Institute of Logistics Science and Engi-
neering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China. She
received her master's degree in the field of engineering and
management of logistics.
Haiqing Yao (haiqing8612@163.com) received the Ph.D.
degree from the East China University of Science and Technol-
ogy, Shanghai, China. He is a Post-doctoral Researcher at the
Shanghai Maritime University in the Institute of Logistics Sci-
ence and Engineering.
Fang Yu (fangyu1985@hotmail.com) completed post-doctoral
work at Kobe University in Japan. She is Assistant Professor in
February 2018 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
the Institute of Logistics Science and Engineering of Shanghai
Maritime University, Shanghai, China.
Xiuwen Fu (fuxiuwen1987@163.com) received the Ph.D. de-
gree from Wuhan University of Technology in China. He is
Assistant Professor in the Institute of Logistics Science and En-
gineering of Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China.
Octavian Postolache (opostolache@lx.it.pt) received the Ph.D.
degree from the Technical University of Iasi and Habilitation
from Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. He is currently Senior
Researcher at the Instituto de Telecomunicacões, Lisboa, and
Professor at Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Gen-
eral Chair of IEEE IMS Portugal Chapter and Chair of IMS TC-13.
43