IoT development company SODAQ has completed 50 successful runs tracking the location and temperature threshold of vaccine shipment containers from va-Q-tec by using the Nordic Semiconductor NRF91 communication module.
The vaccines need to be stored in a controlled environment between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius for at least 96 hours during transportation. "The pharmaceutical industry is estimated to incur $15 billion in product losses each year due to temperature deviations alone. Approximately 1.5 percent of all pharmaceutical shipments are marked as scrap due to logistical failures." according to FedEx.
SODAQ’s solution uses a printed battery and besides location it senses impact, acceleration, temperature and the opening of a box. The solution SODAQ designed for the vaccines comes with a rechargeable standard lithium battery. All other components such as the Nordic nRF9160 chip, the temperature sensor, USB recharge connector and the antenna are all slimmer enabling the device to be inserted into the double-sided cardboard layer of the transportation box.
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The test run involved fifty single shipments. Not all these runs were with va-Q-tec boxes. All runs performed exactly as intended. The test included the recharging of the device, reusing the device on the same box and reusing the device on a new box and shipments to various European countries such as Italy, Poland, Germany, the UK, France and Spain and in addition the US and Canada. In all countries either LTE-M and otherwise NB-IoT connected properly and correctly to the device. The global connectivity for the pilot was provided via APIs from monogoto, the IoT Connectivity company which provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for secure cellular connectivity. The monogoto connectivity solution includes a self-service management platform and over 400 APIs, for flexible product prototyping and production IoT networks. Programmed to only send data when in rest, the solution can be moved onto airplanes. The solution from SODAQ and Nordic can also handle different types of cooling boxes using liquid nitrogen or dry ice by applying a different temperature sensor (range: -80 to -20 Celsius).
Attaching a traditional tracker to the outside of a box makes it impossible to stack the boxes and makes the sensor vulnerable. Inserting a device into the box itself is out of the question, the water and aluminum foil keeping the box cool, block every signal from within the box. SODAQ solved this by inserting an external temperature sensor into the box and making the sensor so flat it can be stuck between the cardboard or cover of the box.