Monitoring Container Conditions of Intermodal Shipping Containers on a Cargo Ship Through Use of a Sensor Grid

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions to perform a method for determining conditions of intermodal shipping containers on a cargo ship, the method comprising:

• establishing a baseline composite vibration pattern from readings generated by multiple vibration sensors, wherein each vibration sensor, of the multiple vibration sensors, is a uniquely-identified vibration sensor that has been affixed to one of multiple intermodal shipping containers, wherein each vibration sensor comprises a vibration sensor for detecting mechanical vibration, wherein the multiple intermodal shipping containers have been loaded onto a cargo ship, and wherein the baseline composite vibration pattern is generated by combining two or more frequency plus amplitude vibration patterns generated by two or more of the multiple vibration sensors that are affixed to the multiple intermodal shipping containers;
• taking subsequent readings from the multiple vibration sensors to generate a new composite vibration pattern, wherein the new composite vibration pattern is generated by combining two or more new frequency plus amplitude vibration patterns generated by two or more of the multiple vibration sensors that are affixed to the multiple intermodal shipping containers;
• receiving humidity readings from humidity sensors affixed to interiors of each of the multiple intermodal shipping containers;
• combining the humidity readings with the new composite vibration pattern to create a vibration/humidity pattern;
• and
• in response to the new composite vibration pattern being different, beyond a predefined range, from the baseline composite vibration pattern, matching the vibration/humidity pattern with a known vibration/humidity pattern in order to identify a cause of the new vibration/humidity pattern and a condition of the intermodal shipping containers.

A system comprising:

• a processor, a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage media;
• first program instructions to establish a baseline composite vibration pattern from readings generated by multiple vibration sensors, wherein each vibration sensor, of the multiple vibration sensors, is a uniquely-identified vibration sensor that has been affixed to one of multiple intermodal shipping containers, wherein each vibration sensor comprises a vibration sensor for detecting mechanical vibration, wherein the multiple intermodal shipping containers have been loaded onto a cargo ship, and wherein the baseline composite vibration pattern is generated by combining two or more frequency plus amplitude vibration patterns generated by two or more of the multiple vibration sensors that are affixed to the multiple intermodal shipping containers;
• second program instructions to take subsequent readings from the multiple vibration sensors to generate a new composite vibration pattern, wherein the new composite vibration pattern is generated by combining two or more new frequency plus amplitude vibration patterns generated by two or more of the multiple vibration sensors that are affixed to the multiple intermodal shipping containers;
• third program instructions to receive humidity readings from humidity sensors affixed to interiors of each of the multiple intermodal shipping containers;
• fourth program instructions to combine the humidity readings with the new composite vibration pattern to create a vibration/humidity pattern;
• and
• fifth program instructions to in response to the new composite vibration pattern being different, beyond a predefined range, from the baseline composite vibration pattern, match the vibration/humidity pattern with a known vibration/humidity pattern in order to identify a cause of the new vibration/humidity pattern and a condition of the intermodal shipping containers;
• and wherein
• the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory.