TRANS-LOGGER-B - Wireless Control System for Transportation and Shipping Conditions

Recorder software for Android
Bluetooth communication with sensors
Up to 30 air temperature and humidity sensors
Delivery conditions reports sent to a printer
Reports sent from the recorder via email
Mobile data transmission to the LBX Server

Climate monitoring in transportation and shipping

The TRANS-LOGGER-B transportation conditions monitoring system comprises a set of devices and Android system software used for documenting transportation conditions of shipments. The system measures and records air temperature and relative humidity in cargo space or transportation packages. It is indispensable wherever there is a need to monitor a supply chain of products subject to climatic conditions - temperature and relative humidity.

The TRANS-LOGGER-B transportation conditions monitoring system consists of a set of devices with their own independent power supply:

a control point that may be:

an Android system terminal, integrated with a printer (e.g. Cilico CM550, PDA-3505-A or GC068 types);
a specialist terminal (e.g. Symbol TC55 Zebra) or any other Android tablet or smartphone, together with an external printer featuring a wireless Bluetooth communication (e.g. RPP-02N).

up to 30 air temperature and relative humidity sensors with measurement memory, located in the controlled zones: thermo hygrometers - LB-518 recorders that store the measurements of air temperature and relative humidity in their memories.

TRANS-LOGGER-B — wireless control system for transportation conditions

Control point

The control point (e.g. a smartphone with Android 5.0 system or later, with the TRANS-LOGGER-B application installed) offers Bluetooth radio connection with air temperature and relative humidity sensors. The control point with the TRANS-LOGGER-B application concurrently serves up to 30 measuring points.

The control point display shows the current temperature and relative humidity in particular locations, indicates when the alarm thresholds are breached; and enables the measurement history to be viewed locally in the form of charts.

When there is no connection with the sensors (e.g. the sensors have been sent in packages with a different shipment, outside the range of the control point), it is possible to re-write the measurement history stored in the sensors whenever the connection with the control point is re-established.

The recorder stores measurements of the sensors in the memory of the TRANS-LOGGER-B application, over the user’s pre-defined time intervals. If the radio connection between the recorder and the sensors is lost, after re-establishing a connection with the sensors, if requested the recorder can retrieve the missing measurements from the sensors’ memories.

The recorder sets alarm thresholds (lower and upper limits for temperature and relative humidity) that, when breached, can trigger a number of signalling methods: on the display, by a sound alarm, a voice or text message, or email, and indicates the occurrence in the report. The report of the recorded transportation conditions may be printed on a printer upon delivery and is stored in the memory in CSV and PDF formats, which may be sent via email to a specified address.

The recorder also makes it possible to send ongoing recorded measurements via GSM mobile network to the LBX Server software, installed in the central overseeing transportation on a Windows PC.

If the recorder is a terminal with an Android system with an integrated printer (e.g. Cilico CM550, PDA-3505-A or GC068 types), then — similarly to any other tablet or smartphone — additional client applications may be installed, connected for example, with transportation logistics. If the recorder is a specialist terminal (e.g. Symbol TC55 Zebra) or any other tablet or smartphone, then the external printer (e.g. RPP-02N) is connected to it via Bluetooth and may also be used to print other client documents.

Recorder’s sensors for measuring air temperature and relative humidity

Temperature and humidity
recorder LB-518 BLE-LOGGER

The air temperature and relative humidity measuring sensors — that is LB-518 BLE-LOGGER wireless temperature and humidity recorders — are independent devices with their own battery power supply. The power supply is sufficient for approx. 12 months of uninterrupted operation provided that the recording interval is set to 1 minute. It is possible to replace the power source—i.e. the typical 3 V batteries (CR2450 type).

The LB-518 temperature and humidity sensors transmit measurement data to the recorder wirelessly. The sensors are also recorders and feature their own permanent data storage facilities, in case there is no connection with the recorder or the recorder malfunctions.

Measurements are taken to the value of 0.1°C for temperature and 0.1% for humidity. The minimum number of recordings stored in the memory of each of the sensors is 15,000 temperature and humidity measurements. When a sensor memory is full, the oldest measurements are overwritten by the newer ones.

The temperature and humidity sensors feature installation holes for easy mounting and dismounting inside the vehicle’s cargo space or transportation packaging.

The LB-518 BLE-LOGGER temperature and humidity sensors, as per order, may feature an individual calibration certificate for the required measurement points, issued by the accredited LAB-EL Calibration Laboratory. Periodically, the sensors may be subject to re-calibration in the Laboratory, in order to confirm their correct functioning.

The recorder’s software

The recorder in the driver’s cabin may be any smartphone or tablet with an Android 5.0 system or later with the specialist TRANS-LOGGER-B application installed. The application provides all the functionalities of the TRANS-LOGGER-B system described above.

The TRANS-LOGGER-B application for Android:

displays on-screen ongoing measurement results and information about interacting sensors;
if requested, downloads the temperature and humidity measurement results stored in the sensors’ memories;
when the programmed alarm thresholds are exceeded, alarm states are signalised from the sensors:

optically, on the device’s screen (in red),
by means of a sound signals,
with voice messages,
emails and text messages sent;

records reports with measurements of subsequent supplies;
presents the measurement history in a graphical form for the set reporting period;
exports a report with the history of measurements from the set period to CSV and PDF format files;
sends emails with the measurement history from the set period in CSV and PDF format files;
regularly sends the measurement data via a GSM mobile network to the mother transportation control system, based on the LBX Server software, operating with the Windows system.

The LBX Server base software is used for:

central collection of measurement data from multiple recorders via Internet transmission (Ethernet, GSM);
maintenance of the central database;
maintenance of the central alarm state signalling;
signalisation of the programmed alarm states;
visualisation in the form of charts, tables and reports.