Smart label chip enables instant quality check of transported pharmaceuticals
A universal smart label chip manufactured by Swiss RFID semiconductor company IDS Microchip is being used by the pharmaceutical industry as a practical way to automatically track, monitor, time-stamp and record information about unseen changes such as extreme temperature that could affect the quality of environmentally sensitive goods during transport.
A universal smart label chip manufactured by Swiss RFID semiconductor company IDS Microchip is being used by the pharmaceutical industry as a practical way to automatically track, monitor, time-stamp and record information about unseen changes such as extreme temperature that could affect the quality of environmentally sensitive goods during transport.
The IDS-SL13A chip, which is said to be up to 10 times more economical than current solutions, lets companies immediately know shipment quality at arrival - without direct human physical contact. German-based Maxsol is implementing IDS-SL13A features in its FCC-approved ISO 15693 reader firmware, a move expected to save significant time and expense for its pharmaceutical customers
"During the last few years, several of our pharmaceutical customers requested a way to send data from a CPU via an interface to the air interface, to set up and read out data using an RFID system," said Max Schneider, ceo at Maxsol. "Having the features of IDS Microchip's smart label chip in our reader firmware provides a cost-effective solution for assessing the quality of sensitive medications arriving by truck, ship or plane."
According to Oluf Alminde, director of sales & marketing at IDS Microchip, the revenue growth rate for semi-passive tags/labels is forecast to reach 75% over the next four years. "The adoption rate of our smart label chip reflects this rapidly expanding need for automatic data logging and tracking systems," he added.
