A study of real-time identification and monitoring of barge-carried hazardous commodities

In response to increased terrorist threats related to hazardous material movements on the U.S. inland waterway system, towing vessel operators and fleet area managers, at specified reporting points, are required to notify the U.S. Coast Guard's Inland River Vessel Movement Center (IRVMC) of the movement of barges loaded with Certain Dangerous Cargo (CDC). The objective of this study is to develop and field test a prototype system that provides more accurate, uniform, and timely data on hazardous movements by barges, especially those certified as CDC, and to identify and report barges with potential security threats. The system being developed, namely TRACC, is expected to automatically track and monitor barges with CDC and communicate the real-time information to a data server. The event prediction and anomaly detection modules of the system will analyze the collected real-time data and other information to identify any potential security threats, and visually display locations and routes of suspicious barges. It will benefit homeland security community, first responders, local law enforcement personnel and business by providing timely and accurate barge information to make quick and right decisions in disasters involving CDC movement on the inland waterway.