Persistent Awareness system facilitating Customs ChecKs

ongoing

By combining IoT solutions with edge-based AI, our project PACK significantly decreases the number of trucks to be stopped for checking, enables fully automated customs checks, improves energy efficiency by optimising the equipment to operate autonomously with minimal environmental impact. It aims to deliver a highly secure, cyber-resilient access control system specifically designed for the cargo compartments of freight trucks. This innovative system enhances and integrates advanced detection, tracking, and risk-based selective control systems, featuring trustworthy algorithms that reduce false positives and biases. PACK brings more efficient customs control processes by a smart IoT-enabled customs seal to deter tampering and an intelligent IoT sensor array equipped with edge-based AI for continuous monitoring. With this setup, the system can independently evaluate the need to issue alerts to supervising authorities, thereby streamlining roadside inspections. Additionally, it allows customs and law enforcement agencies to access and unlock the customs seal at any point during transit, including locations outside traditional customs yards and checkpoints. Our goal is to demonstrate that implementing PACK across the European Union can significantly reduce freight truck waiting times at external EU borders, by just a 10% market penetration saving the logistics and transportation industry ~ €241 million and 2.35 million hours of time annually. This improvement would also result in the conservation of ~70.5 million litres of fuel annually, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 190.000 metric tons each year. The complete solution will be validated with end-users in realistic operational scenarios, running parallel to actual customs inspections to benchmark its performance and deliver measurable results. Market uptake is planned in a public-private cost sharing model where customs authorities, truck operators and logistics companies share deployment costs.