Automated Cargo-Tracking Transponders

Credit-card-sized electronic transponders have been proposed for use in tracking cargo anywhere on Earth. A transponder would be carried on a cargo container, where it would act as a "smart tag." The transponder would store data on the cargo in the container and would respond to inquiries —whether local or remote — about the contents and location of the shipment. The transponder and the communication and data-processing systems with which it would interact would ensure accurate and up-to-the-minute tracking of cargo, whether the cargo was in a warehouse, train, truck, airplane, or ship. Tracking cargo in this way would eliminate the need for the voluminous paperwork now used to track cargo and would make it unnecessary to prematurely open cargo containers at transshipment points to ascertain their contents.