Assume this is all feasible as if I were a researcher who worked for a certain entity that was able to procure legal permissions to do said thing.
There is a hypothesis that real-world environmental conditions are effecting a products value during the shipping process as it moves to Asia from the U.S. and I would like to simply measure and log the temperature and humidity over the course of shipment on tens to a few hundred packages of this product.
I need to build tens to hundreds of logging units that can transmit their logged data back to me in the U.S. and the problem lies in the fact that nobody will be on the other end to scoop up that many units to send my data back. The real world of logistics is too unreliable and fast moving to make this happen. The best scenario is wireless transmission.
Simple solution right? Satellites! Iridium / RockBLOK SatComm module and done. Or is it? This product will not see the light of day, that is, will not have direct line of sight with the sky. They're right out of the crate and into the warehouse via loading dock.
I'm thinking cell phone data. However, I've never dealt with the idea of connecting to a foreign nation's cell phone networks to upload my data to anything- whether or not it's a simple kilobyte of data or two I need to send back the process has never been something I've pondered. I figure there's only a handful of protocols for GSM/CDMA out there but I dont even know where to begin to set up something like this part of this project is new to me. I figure I can figure it out with a few days of Google-Fu but I want to make a preemptive strike on Arduino Forums to see if anyone out here has ever dealt with something like this?
Thanks for the responses, genuinely, however both responses address items of interest that I have addressed in OP.
I will not be able to get the hardware back physically. The loggers need to be able to be set free and never seen again. They will be tagged with instructions for sending them back and mailing labels but history in my research unit's experience with this method has shown this to be VERY VERY INEFFECTIVE.
Yes, they will be in a shipping container. This axes the idea of satellites. They will go from a shipping container straight into a warehouse. This axes the idea of satellites but opens the idea of cellular comm, since cell phones can work in most warehouses.
Do you have any control at all over the end point environment? If you knew it was going to be one particular shipping company warehouse where the container is opened, then you might connect to their wifi?
It should be no problem at all to buy 100 pre-paid SIM cards for the destination country, ship them to China and install them in your product. I imagine that Chinese customs will want to ask you questions when they see that package.
The way to get the data back is make it valuable to the person who opens the box at the other end. I would expect that the buyer of a perishable product would be very interested to know the history of the package. Let them know the tracker is there and they will look for it and download it for you. Have them make it part of their business process - they should want to record this data for their own use. If you just have a simple financial incentive "50% off on your next shipment if you send the data back" then compliance will be much lower. The person who opens the box is less interested in saving the company money. But they are interested in keeping their boss happy, so they will find the tracker if the boss asks for it.
Look at other similar products like Shockwatch and the humidity indicators packaged with electronic components. Find out why a customer might want to see that and how they use the data.
jremington:
You will want to try your cell phone inside a closed steel shipping container before jumping to conclusions.
Not jumping to conclusions. The cell phone will work inside the warehouse. Whether or not it works inside the shipping container is erroneous because it will be on a boat- I'm asking about connecting to Chinese cell carriers and getting the data back.
MorganS:
Do you have any control at all over the end point environment? If you knew it was going to be one particular shipping company warehouse where the container is opened, then you might connect to their wifi?
It should be no problem at all to buy 100 pre-paid SIM cards for the destination country, ship them to China and install them in your product. I imagine that Chinese customs will want to ask you questions when they see that package.
The way to get the data back is make it valuable to the person who opens the box at the other end. I would expect that the buyer of a perishable product would be very interested to know the history of the package. Let them know the tracker is there and they will look for it and download it for you. Have them make it part of their business process - they should want to record this data for their own use. If you just have a simple financial incentive "50% off on your next shipment if you send the data back" then compliance will be much lower. The person who opens the box is less interested in saving the company money. But they are interested in keeping their boss happy, so they will find the tracker if the boss asks for it.
Look at other similar products like Shockwatch and the humidity indicators packaged with electronic components. Find out why a customer might want to see that and how they use the data.
We ship +/- 15 million 500lb units per year of the product and ports can not be assumed to have anybody that will go for incentives and return. I work in a lab that does not own or sell the product, but we have merchants friendly with us strapping sensors to the product.
Well, the data is valuable to you and the merchants? You just need to make it valuable to the people who open the boxes at the other end.
That value may be just prestige: tell all your customers what percent of devices were returned by other customers. They will race each other to give it to you. A $100 prize will motivate thousands of dollars of effort.
Let's assume that is not an option. That's what I'm trying to make the thread about. How do I get data onto the internet via a Chinese wireless network.
Actually, since the loggers will probable go to Vietnam too, I can connect to a Vietnamese cell network- which considering the Great Firewall of China might make things easier.
There is an iridium satellite shield available but its expensive.
If you have that sort of funding available, an incentive is the only thing i can think of.
It,s how i did baloon races as a kid.
Where are your units going to ?
China is very big and cell coverage is poor away from the cities.
I think the information you need can only be had from the carriers themselves.
If they have a system like my phone had , it has to be switched on then authorised by the network for its first use, irrespective of wether a pre paid sim was used or not..
I suspect that cell coverage around the ports is somewhat better?
I think you'd get much better results if you could ask some Chinese makers who live in China (I don't suppose you've got native speakers on staff?) - they probably do that shit all the time, as casually as western makers connect to the cell networks in their home country.
The Iridium unit mentioned in Post #1 is not an option because I go from a steel shipping crate to a warehouse- no line of sight. The price isn't a big issue. I'd love to use them, and they were in fact my first choice, upon talking to folks there's just never any line-of-sight with the sky to use them. I'd be deploying tens to hundreds of these units, depending upon price and final funding.
The incentive return thing is just not happening. Well... We will probably label them for return, but multiple studies returned zero units when this has been attempted in the past.
I just want to know if anyone's transmitted data via a SIM card from Asia before, or can point me in the right direction. I usually turn to Google-Fu but it's not been effective in this case. It'd appear not, though I'm hoping someone will turn up.
RegisteredJack45:
I just want to know if anyone's transmitted data via a SIM card from Asia before, or can point me in the right direction. I usually turn to Google-Fu but it's not been effective in this case. It'd appear not, though I'm hoping someone will turn up.
Do you already have a source for these GSM modules? The one I bought came from China and the guy answered my e-mail before I bought it.
If you're buying hundreds I'm sure the vendors would be more than happy to answer your questions about how to have them automatically connect to the Chinese phone network once your products arrive in the country.
Edited to Add: And honestly, if you paid them enough, they'd probably install SIM cards and do whatever configuration might be necessary for them to connect to the network before they shipped them to you.
RegisteredJack45:
We ship +/- 15 million 500lb units per year of the product and ports can not be assumed to have anybody that will go for incentives and return. I work in a lab that does not own or sell the product, but we have merchants friendly with us strapping sensors to the product.
Heh...I'm not sure what you mean by +/- 15 million units. Sometimes you ship them 15 million, and sometimes they ship 15 million back?
Lol...I'm sure you meant 15 million +/- xx%, however. It's encouraging to hear that we're still exporting that much of anything to China! What are these products?
Also, as people seem to like to say on this forum, this sounds like it might be an "XY problem." What is the symptom that makes you suspect temp/humidity during shipping? Years ago I had a problem where my products were arriving in the US from China with mold on their packaging due to being shipped on pallets that weren't kiln dried. Is that the sort of thing that is happening here?
@BigBobby: Yessir I mean the U.S. cotton industry ships plus or minus 15 million bales a year. The product is cotton and I work in a lab that researches cotton. Among many things, cotton is classed based on color and priced according to that and many other things. The problem is, all of the 15 million bales are classed correctly but by the time they get to their destination they may have a different color thus class. The suspect is shipping and shipping crates- as it has been studied. We're looking to get real-world data to interpolate with our lab results for confirmation.
I will try, per your suggestion, to reach out to a couple makers of SIM/GSM products. You're right, if I was so say buy a hundred or even a handful of them they might work with me. Thanks.
@Boardburner2: I had not found Cellular Abroad and they look promising, thank you for this lead. Expensive but feasible. I chatted with their live chat person for a bit and they seem to sound promising. I'd of course send out a couple of test prototypes before executing the project en masse, and I'm still a little scared of something getting screwed up with the whole China "real name" SIM card registration policy. The support fella' says the cards get registered to their company. I also found Telestial, which is similarly promising. Thanks.
http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?PRODUCT_ID=MSIM-EX01#none $20 International SIM with a $10 credit, covers both of the countries I need to cover (China and Vietnam), and data is $3.50 a megabyte. I'm only transmitting a few kilobytes back home. Sounds very promising!