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DHL, AeroScout, Microlise Team to Track Temperature for Pharma Maker
From there, the data is made available on Microlise's hosted Web site. "The IVC extracts the temperature tag data from the reader," says Lee Nixon, Microlise's RFID product manager, "then formats that data and sends it back to the host system via GPRS." The IVC can also use the GPRS modem to send an alert if the temperature range is not acceptable, via e-mail or a phone call to the appropriate parties. In addition, the IVC controls the AeroScout interrogator by powering it on and off to save on battery usage.
The pilot was launched in late March, and has tracked only five trips thus far. Early results, however, show the system works, says Andris Berzins, AeroScout's managing director for Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA). "We're already pretty confident," he says. The first route being tested is from Belgium to DHL's warehouse in Sweden. Future pilots, Martens notes, may track shipments into southern Europe as well.
The pilot has not been without challenges. Early on, the system was unable to track shipments while the trucks were on a ferry moving from Denmark to Sweden, because the GPRS modem was unable to communicate with the GPRS base station out at sea. "When the truck goes into the ferry," explains Nixon, "there is no [GPRS] coverage, so the IVC cannot communicate with the host application." What's more, during the initial run of the pilot, communications interruption caused the IVC to reboot a number of times, resulting in some data loss.
"Now, during the nine-hour black spot [the communications blackout] on the ferry, we simply store all the temperature data to disk," Nixon says. "Then, when the ferry doors open, connectivity is restored and all of the events are sent over to the host system with their 'actual event' time in place. This means that although the data is delayed—the ferry journey is overnight—when the [pharmaceutical company employees] come in the next day and check the report, it is transparent to them."
The next step will be to test the technology on different routes throughout Europe. Presently, however, there is no specific date set for that phase.
This year, DHL also expects to launch a service involving a temperature-logger tag it developed in partnership with IBM, Intel, NXP Semiconductor and SAP (see DHL Expects to Launch).
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The pilot was launched in late March, and has tracked only five trips thus far. Early results, however, show the system works, says Andris Berzins, AeroScout's managing director for Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA). "We're already pretty confident," he says. The first route being tested is from Belgium to DHL's warehouse in Sweden. Future pilots, Martens notes, may track shipments into southern Europe as well.
The pilot has not been without challenges. Early on, the system was unable to track shipments while the trucks were on a ferry moving from Denmark to Sweden, because the GPRS modem was unable to communicate with the GPRS base station out at sea. "When the truck goes into the ferry," explains Nixon, "there is no [GPRS] coverage, so the IVC cannot communicate with the host application." What's more, during the initial run of the pilot, communications interruption caused the IVC to reboot a number of times, resulting in some data loss.
"Now, during the nine-hour black spot [the communications blackout] on the ferry, we simply store all the temperature data to disk," Nixon says. "Then, when the ferry doors open, connectivity is restored and all of the events are sent over to the host system with their 'actual event' time in place. This means that although the data is delayed—the ferry journey is overnight—when the [pharmaceutical company employees] come in the next day and check the report, it is transparent to them."
The next step will be to test the technology on different routes throughout Europe. Presently, however, there is no specific date set for that phase.
This year, DHL also expects to launch a service involving a temperature-logger tag it developed in partnership with IBM, Intel, NXP Semiconductor and SAP (see DHL Expects to Launch).
