Using Shock Monitoring

Gone are the days of relying solely on bubble wrap and packing peanuts. Food and beverage companies are embracing the power of shock sensors to revolutionize how they safeguard their products during shipping.

As logistics navigate increasingly complex demands, especially for fragile, lightweight food and beverage containers, these advanced monitoring tools offer a perfect solution.

The Sensos Label is a smart device that provides real-time tracking and visibility throughout your supply chain. Configuring online in seconds is easy, saving you time and money.

One of the Sensos Label's abilities is Shock Monitoring, allowing you to ensure the proper handling of your cargo with alerts for any shocks or impacts that could damage your shipment.

Why Do You Need a Shock Sensor?

There are two main reasons to utilize the Shock Monitoring feature of the Sensos Label:

• Enhanced Customer Experience: Reducing damage events and issues in your supply chain, while enabling early detection, significantly impacts the overall customer experience you provide. This translates to fewer costs and losses, and by detecting shock-related issues on time, you can prevent deliveries from reaching their destinations in a damaged state. This allows you to provide your customers with alternative solutions or replacements.
• Reduced Damage: By generating data and insights regarding when, where, why, and by whom damage occurs to a shipment, you can create a more durable supply chain with measures to lower damage events below your desired threshold.

What Does Our Sensor Measure?

The Sensos Label includes a 3-axis accelerometer that captures:

• Impact magnitude (g-force)

• Impact duration (milliseconds)

The sensor measures both the force and duration of impacts.

Trigger Thresholds

You can set custom thresholds for both force and duration to fine-tune alerts based on your product's sensitivity.

• You can set alert thresholds between 2g and 16g.

• 16g is the maximum measured force per axis the sensor can detect.

• In multi-directional impacts, combined forces can be measured up to ~28g (vector sum across axes).

• Impacts above 16g are rare and usually only relevant for hardier items or investigative analysis.

Example:

An alert set to trigger at 16g with a 100ms duration will fire when a 16g+ shock lasts more than a tenth of a second—helping you determine how intense and sustained the event was.

Users can also set the duration to exceed the predetermined threshold. By following this procedure, you can gain valuable information regarding the amount of energy exerted on the shipment and, as a result, the likelihood of damage.

Sampling Rate

The sensor samples at 50Hz (every 20 milliseconds), ensuring accurate detection of short-duration shocks. This can be configured for greater sensitivity if needed, but higher resolution may result in more alerts.

Sensos Shock Monitoring Configuration Guide

Use the following table to configure thresholds based on your cargo’s fragility and shipping conditions.

The alert configuration is the minimal value to trigger an alert, while the alert data reflects the actual data that was recorded in the shock event and can be equal or greater than the minimal value configured.

Balancing Sensitivity and Duration

• Lower thresholds capture minor bumps (ideal for fragile goods).

• Higher thresholds ignore minor jolts and focus on significant incidents.

Best Practices

• Adjust settings based on transportation mode—air freight vs. sea freight produce different shock profiles.

• Account for environment—rough roads or loading docks may produce vibration or bumps that aren’t relevant for your goods.

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