Summary: This review on reference project focuses on: FP7-CONTAIN project. The CONTAIN Base platform might contribute to CORE Supply Chain Situational Awareness Toolset (T4.1). The CONTAIN Dashboard is a good example towards CORE T3.3. The author of the review is Konstantinos Vasileiou, ILS. The document code is CORE3011, in the CORE e-library.

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The aim of the CONTAIN project is to specify and demonstrate a European Shipping Container Surveillance system in a global context. The solution encompasses regulatory, policy and standardization recommendations, new business models and advanced container security management capabilities. The Base Platform of CONTAIN consolidates data from various sources and presents them to the user in a clear, understandable way, in order to support and promote real-time SC information visibility and to facilitate security-related decision-making. The same concepts are important in the context of CORE and could be reused from CONTAIN, although the scope of CORE is much wider (CONTAIN focuses only on the aspect of container traffic). The two projects may share similar supporting underlying infrastructure for communication (e.g. Access Points), thus the approach of the Base Platform can be supported by the connectivity layer without major changes in the solutions’ design.

Project outcomes of relevance to CORE:

CTFIM, SASP and the Base Platform: The ultimate objective of CONTAIN is to demonstrate that a Secure Multimodal Corridor can be designed and implemented across international and European corridors on a full scale basis. CONTAIN will specify and demonstrate a Container Traffic Flow Information Management Architecture (CTFIM) in a global context. The CTFIM encompasses regulatory, policy and standardization recommendations and new business models. The architectural framework of the CTFIM has been converted into a systems based solution titled the Situational Awareness Support Platform (SASP). At its core, the SASP system contains the Base Platform. The CTFIM is therefore the blue print for the development of the Base Platform and its architecture. The Base Platform was developed by integrating business process and data from project partners, their information systems and directly from devices such as sensors with metadata from sources such as GPS/EGNOS systems and shipping schedule systems.

The CONTAIN Base Platform has a central role in the Situational Awareness Support Platform (SASP). It communicates with every component of the end-to-end system solution by receiving information from one service and passing it to another through Communication Technologies (Web services or Access Points). All data signals from sensors are passed through the platform, and then stored and processed. The required information is then extracted and passed through to the next stage. The workflow of messages is handled centrally via the Base Platform. Through the Base Platform, real time alerts become available to port operators and customs, in order to be able to act immediately after detection of suspicious movement. These results offer a dramatic improvement on the level of protection that is offered to global trade. This part of CONTAIN might contribute to CORE Supply Chain Situational Awareness Toolset (T4.1).

The components of the base platform include:

• Authorization Server;
• Audit Trail;
• Federated Content Management;
• Central Data Repository;
• Semantic Datastore;
• Data consolidation and dissemination;
• Workflow Engine; and
• Dashboard.

The CONTAIN Dashboard is a good example towards CORE T3.3. It is a web based module of the Base platform that offers the following functionalities to the users:

• a real time tracking of the containers;
• real time detection of suspicious actions; and
• warnings of the potential of key risks.

The users have to be authenticated and authorized to access the system by using an active user name and password. The Dashboard utilizes the latest technologies to deliver a state-of-the-art experience to the end user in one customizable user friendly interface. Some of the modules that are available in the Dashboard are updated in real time. The information of the modules that are updated in real time are:

• Incoming messages (either logistics or sensors data);
• Outgoing messages;
• Alerts;
• High Risk Containers, and
• Status of the critical external system.

The authorized operator needs the information on time to be able to take immediate actions especially in the case of alerts. Websocket technology is utilized to achieve the real time information feeds. Websockets keep a connection between client and server open and allow the messages to be passed back and forth without any delays.

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