A smart context-aware-oriented vehicle terminal system in logistics transportation

Taking advantage of context aware computing, a novel vehicle terminal system is proposed to realize collaborative awareness, continuous monitoring and precise localization of vehicles for digital logistics. The integrated hardware and software design of the terminal system is presented, which merges together RFID, GPS and sensor technologies based on embedded systems. We use the ultra-low power 16-bit RISC mixed-signal microcontroller as the central control unit considering both small size and high efficiency. The intelligent vehicle terminal can provide mainly the automatic identification of a chauffeur and cargos, the real-time vehicle localization, personalized context-aware, the data and voice communication, and remote centralized monitoring as well. Testing and analysis results indicate that the integration of RFID, GPS and context sensors can enhance the reliability of the smart terminal, which further improve the accuracy, intelligence and efficiency of digital logistics vehicular management.