Smart Cargo & Container Scanner

Overview

Smart Cargo Scanner is a drive-through high-energy X-ray and gamma inspection system for port truck gates and container yards. A 6 MeV linear-accelerator gantry images a full 40-foot container in seconds while an AI image-analysis pipeline classifies cargo, cross-checks the manifest, and flags anomalies for customs inspectors in real time.

Built for ports, border crossings, free-trade zones and logistics hubs that need to inspect 100% of inbound containers without grinding throughput to a halt. The system replaces guess-work with measurable recall, gives customs a single console across all lanes, and routes flagged loads to inspectors or K9 teams within seconds.

Drive-through gantry at 5-12 km/h — no need to stop the truck for routine scans
AI density & shape classifier — 92%+ recall on contraband classes, 3% false-positive rate
Manifest cross-check — auto-compares declared cargo vs imaged density distribution
Operator-safe — fully shielded tunnel, IEC-62463 compliant, <1 μSv per scan

How It Works

Drive-through gantry — truck rolls under a shielded portal at low speed. A 6 MeV LINAC fires a fan beam through the container; a 220-element detector array on the opposite pillar captures the transmitted intensity line-by-line as the truck advances.
AI image analysis — the reconstructed radiograph is fed to a CNN classifier trained on 12+ cargo classes (electronics, textiles, vehicles, organics, liquids, metals, contraband). Bounding boxes are drawn around density anomalies and reviewed against the e-manifest.
Customs console — a multi-lane dashboard shows live lane status (CLEAR / SCAN / HOLD), throughput, average dwell, and a queue of flagged containers for officer review.
Inspectors & K9 — flagged loads are paged to on-shift inspectors on a ruggedised tablet with the radiograph, the bounding boxes, and a one-tap HOLD or CLEAR. K9 teams get a separate radio page when explosives or narcotics models trigger.

The purple feedback loop pushes inspector verdicts back into the model for continuous retraining and gives the gantry lane-control commands (raise barrier, signal next truck).

Features

High-penetration imaging — resolves steel up to ~340 mm thick on a single pass
Multi-energy discrimination — separates organic vs metallic vs heavy materials by colour
Edge GPU inference — classifier runs on-site, <250 ms per container, works offline
Manifest matching — ingests UN/EDIFACT, ACI, ENS, ACE customs feeds
Automatic Number Plate & Container ID OCR — ties every scan to a truck and box
Operator-pendant verdict workflow — HOLD / CLEAR / ESCALATE with full audit log
Radiation safety interlocks — beam inhibits if pedestrians or unauthorised motion detected
Open APIs — REST + MQTT into TOS, customs systems, BI dashboards

Use Cases

Sea-port truck gates — 100% non-intrusive inspection of inbound and outbound containers
Land border crossings — high-throughput scanning of TIR trucks and trailers
Free-trade & bonded zones — deterrent and audit-grade evidence for customs
Rail freight terminals — gantry variant for slow-moving wagon trains
Air cargo hubs — ULD scanning before tarmac transfer
Anti-smuggling task forces — targeted scans of high-risk routes and consignees

Specifications

Source: 6 MeV linear accelerator (X-ray) or Co-60 / Cs-137 (gamma) variants
Penetration: ~340 mm steel equivalent (X-ray), ~180 mm (gamma)
Throughput: 40-60 trucks/hour drive-through; 120+ trucks/hour pass-through
Image resolution: 2.5 mm wire detectability at full container depth
Operator dose: <1 μSv per scan; tunnel shielding to IEC-62463 / ANSI N43.17
Truck speed: 5-12 km/h drive-through; 0 km/h portal variant
Compute: Dual-GPU edge inference server; offline-capable with 30-day buffer
Integrations: ASYCUDA, CW1, Navis N4, TOS REST/MQTT, ACE/ACI/ENS feeds