Straddle Carrier Portal

Nondestructive Detection and Measurement for Homeland Security

Straddle carriers are used for movement of cargo containers at seaports between dockside to storage yard, dockside to truck, dockside to rail, storage yard to truck, and storage yard to rail. Many international seaports use straddle carriers.

The primary objectives for this project were to use commercial off the shelf radiation sensor panels to detect radiation in cargo containers and:

Notify authorities when radiation was detected
Accurately identify the container
Operate the straddle carrier radiation detection panel system remotely
Use intelligent traffic control to operate the system at seaports and rail crossings while minimally impacting commerce.

A mockup test was performed to validate the conceptual design for the SCP. Operator input on notification, system layout, feasibility of the over-all process, and impact on seaport operations were some of the issues evaluated. The SCP mockup tests included an alignment guide to facilitate portal transit, provide indication of minimum load height required, provide minimum load height enforcement, minimize risk of damage to containers and strads, readily portable, reset after upset, repairable, and to see how cost effective it was to utilize.

Project Contact: E. Andersen