Ensure the Port Safety with a Container Lifting System
Background
The shipping industry is facing a wide range of challenges at ports, such as constantly rising demand necessitating more efficient loading and unloading facilities, as well as elevated manpower costs and limitations to personnel’s working hours. These issues can be alleviated through the implementation of a smart lifting system in the port’s cranes, which can help workers detect and track the movements of vessels, objects, and people, thereby enhancing safety during the transport of goods to and from ships.
System Requirements
A cargo loading system would be used to move containers while also ensuring the safety of cargo and personnel during lifting operations. However, there would be several hurdles to overcome:
- The port covers a large area, which means that signals need to be transmitted over distances of 500–700 meters. Traditional Cat 5 cables can only support distances of up to 100 meters.
- The cameras in the system use an RJ45 interface, and do not have their own power supply. This necessitates sending power to the cameras over long distances.
- The outdoor environment of the port means the system’s components must be rigorous enough to withstand a broad range of temperatures and environmental conditions.
- There are many electrical devices in operation at the port, such as motors. This will generate significant interference from electromagnetic waves, so the system needs to have strong anti-electromagnetic resistance.
Project Implementation
- IMC-150LPI: hardened PoE long reach Ethernet extender
- EKI-7428G-4CPI: managed Ethernet switch
System Description
Why Advantech
- The Advantech IMC-150LPI PoE long reach extender is capable of transmitting Ethernet signals up to 500 meters at 100 Mbps over UTP cable. The PoE+ PD/PSE dual design also directly addresses the power supply issues at the port, enabling electronics such as sensors and cameras to receive the power they need to function.
- The IMC-150LPI has features such as link fault pass through (LFPT) and switch-selectable configurations for LAN rates and connection types.
- The IMC-150LPI is small, unobtrusive, and easy to install, making it suitable for implementation on port cranes and control rooms.
- The IMC-150LPI and EKI-7428G-4CPI are sufficiently rigorous and resistant to environmental factors and electromagnetic interference, and feature high reliability.