Editor’s note: As we get toward the end of 2023, RFIDJournal.com is looking back at some of the top stories that we published in the last year.
This spring, conditions-monitoring technology company SpotSee released its SpotBot 4G impact, temperature and humidity sensor, which it demonstrated at last month’s RFID Journal LIVE! conference in Orlando, Fla. This latest monitoring device provides Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity to enable users to locate and view the conditions of products throughout the supply chain and at remote locations.
Since its release earlier this year, several logistics companies have adopted the technology for such purposes as managing conditions around fine art in transit, transformers and related electrical equipment. Several pharmaceutical companies are using it to monitor the temperatures of products destined for patients’ homes or pharmacies.
The SpotBot 4G, according to Billy Sanez, SpotSee’s global marketing director, was built to provide an all-purpose sensor solution that could track the conditions and locations of goods in the supply chain, without requiring readers or scanners to access data wirelessly.
The SpotBot 4G
To accomplish that goal, the device comes with 4G LTE-M connectivity and Wi-Fi, as well as sensors to identify whether a product has been exposed to shock, if temperature levels exceed acceptable thresholds or if there is a sign of dampness. The solution was built for industries that have been seeking a more affordable way to manage conditions monitoring without data loggers, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic products shipping.
Data logging has come a long way, SpotSee notes. Fifty years ago, the company released its first proprietary indicators and condition-based monitoring devices, which were used to detect the mishandling of sensitive computer media in transit.
Throughout the years, challenges for pharmaceutical and biologics companies have been growing most notably, as such firms seek to monitor impact, vibration and tilt events that could impact products in the supply chain. Environmentally sensitive therapeutics represent about half of all drugs approved within the past few years, according to Pharmaceutical Commerce.
Drug companies are not the only businesses deploying the SpotBot, however. A company that transports fine art is monitoring humidity, temperature and shock events to which art is exposed as it is moved, often between continents. The firm wants to monitor for potential damage-causing incidents, as well as where they occurred.
Therefore, the SpotBot sensors can be attached to fine art being shipped over a long distance, such as a painting or piece of antiquity. The system not only issues alerts whenever a 4G or Wi-Fi connection is available, Sanez says, but also creates a digital record of where a temperature excursion or other incident may have occurred.
Managing Fine Art, High-Value Electrical Equipment
A company that transports electric generators, transformers and related components to installation sites is using the SpotBot 4G for two purposes, SpotSee reports. The technology tracks the high-value goods in transit to ensure their location and condition as they move.
Each generator, transformer or piece of electrical equipment is tagged with a SpotBot sensor device, and it tracks conditions as the equipment is moved. Once installed, the tag remains with the machinery. It can monitor for vibration and shock, then transmit that data via Wi-Fi or 4G.
In that way, Sanez says, operators can detect potential problems before the equipment fails, such as a shock caused by weather, or a vibration indicating a potential mechanical problem. The sensor can also detect if someone attempts to tamper with a transformer or other key electrical equipment.
A third application for which the SpotBot is being deployed involves drugs and biomedical products being transported from manufacturers to hospitals, drug stores or patients’ homes. At least one pharmaceuticals manufacturer is using the devices to track temperature-sensitive liquid injectables, in order to ensure the temperature remains within an acceptable threshold.
Billy Sanez
The SpotBot 4G contains a built-in battery. Once activated, it begins collecting sensor data and transmitting it to the cloud, along with its own unique ID number. The device can either be attached to the outside of a carton or container, Sanez says, or be placed inside it. As product moves from one site to another, the SpotBot seeks a Wi-Fi connection; if none is available, it can transmit data via the 4G LTE-M radio. Its location can then be calculated based on its proximity to Wi-Fi signals or the cellular towers delivering the location information. Users can set up requirements within the cloud-based SpotSee system, such as requirements related to shock, temperature or humidity.
The SpotBot 4G measures impacts between 3.5 and 100 G [gravitational force equivalent]. If the device detects an exception around the sensor requirements, an alert can be sent directly to authorized parties and be displayed in SpotSee’s cloud dashboard. If no Wi-Fi or 4G connection is available, the SpotBot will store the data until it comes within range of a wireless network. Users can set up geofencing to indicate geographic locations where tagged goods are allowed to be, so that they can receive an alert if a product leaves that specific area, or if it spends too much time at a particular location.
The device measures 5 inches by 1.5 inches and is 1.8 inches in height. It weighs 6.7 ounces and can be screw-mounted or attached via an adhesive or magnetic feet. Its lithium battery pack has a typical lifespan of one year if the device capture sensor data and forwards it every hour. That battery life can be extended to seven years if data is only transmitted once daily.
Bringing NFC Tech to Temperature Indicator
Later this year, SpotSee intends to release a Near Field Communication (NFC) version of its WarmMark temperature indicator, which is designed as a low-cost data logger that changes color as an indicator if a product becomes too warm or cold. The tag is being used for monitoring COVID-19 specimens, as well as for vaccines and other biologics, to ensure they do not fall outside specified parameters, such as above 8 degree Celsius (46.4 degree Fahrenheit).
WarmMark is a single-use, low-cost label or sticker, SpotSee explains. Users can simply look at the label when a product arrives at or departs from their facility. If the label is white, that means a product has stayed within the appropriate temperature range. If it turns red, however, through a process of melting wax known as thermochromic ink, users know the temperature level has been exceeded. With NFC technology, the sticker’s temperature results could be read via an NFC reading device, such as a smartphone or tablet, without requiring each label to be visually examined.
The use of NFC enables users to capture that result in a SpotSee app, thereby creating a digital record that could be automatically shared with authorized parties. One application for the NFC-enabled device will be home delivery of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals. The WarmMark device could be applied to a container of goods after those products are broken down into delivery packages for customers within a distribution center.
“Imagine a workforce that has smaller devices such as cellular phones,” Sanez states.
Employees could simply tap their phone against the tag as a product is delivered to a home or hospital, and thus upload data into the SpotSee app to display the conditions in real time, as well as set up a digital record of the temperature reading, linked to the GPS-based location data from the mobile device. That information could then be accessible to customers or the pharmaceutical company. In the meantime, SpotSee indicates, the WarmMark device will continue to display a visual color change to red for anyone examining the sensor visually.
Prior to delivery, Sanez says, “The recipient will be able to track it and ensure that the cold chain was maintained from the point at which a larger shipment was broken into smaller product.”
For pharmaceuticals, he adds, “It’s extremely important just to make sure that the consistency of the temperature is maintained,” and that any of those products being delivered to a customer could benefit from the sensor. Once the NFC-enabled WarmMark has been released, Sanez says, a UHF version for longer-range reading in bulk is expected to follow.
Key Takeaways:
- SpotSee’s SpotBot 4G is being deployed by art movers, pharmaceutical companies and an electronics company, all with an eye toward better monitoring the conditions around products.
- The WarmMark will soon be released with NFC functionality, enabling shippers or shipment recipients to access data about a product’s temperature throughout the supply chain, with the tap of a smartphone.