ARG-US “Traveler” for Tracking and Monitoring Conveyances

The ARG-US “Traveler” is being developed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy Packaging Certification Program, Office of Packaging and Transportation, Office of Environmental Management. It is the latest innovative product in the family of ARG-US (meaning “Watchful Guardian”) remote monitoring systems technology for risk-significant materials in cargo conveyances during transportation by truck, rail, or ship. Risk-significant materials may include nuclear and other radioactive materials, radiological sources, and/or hazardous chemicals, for which safety, security, and safeguards are major concerns, as the threats of sabotage and theft are real with very serious potential consequences. The Traveler’s modular platform allows sensors to be added or removed (i.e., customized) with relative ease. For example, the Traveler’s modular suite of sensors may include, depending on monitoring need, temperature, humidity, and radiation (gamma and neutron) sensors, as well as an accelerometer, an electronic loop seal, and a digital camera. The Traveler uses redundant methods (i.e., cellular and satellite) for the transmission of sensor data, alarm annunciation when sensor thresholds are violated, and clearance of alarms remotely from a command center. Powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the Traveler, in its current configuration, can support continuous tracking and monitoring for up to 6 days. The Traveler is supported by secured data servers; a secured web application user interface is accessible to authorized users anywhere in the world. This paper will provide highlights of the Traveler’s field tests conducted during 2017, including both vehicles on local and Interstate highways and the rail shipment of the ENSA/DOE transport cask tests during its journey from Baltimore, MD, to Pueblo, CO, in July-August 2017. In addition to enabling real-time tracking of geographical locations of the transport cask on a publicly accessible webpage, the sensors in the Traveler provided a large amount of data—for example, the 3-axis digital accelerometer transmitted data that could be used for analyses and possible correlation to events with associated geographic locations and time stamps. New webpage functions and analytics are also being developed, including average train speeds, segmented terrain videos, and algorithms for the implementation of geo-fencing.