The pharmaceutical cold chain has seen rapid developments in sensor technologies. With a greater number of critical drug treatments requiring shipping and storing in uninterrupted cold conditions, from manufacture all the way to patient administration, full visibility into the product’s entire journey, including problematic events like temperature excursions, helps ensure product quality and patient safety. However, there are blind spots in the cold chain. A solution could be the implementation of compatible sensor configurations and standardized data-sharing processes.
Data-sharing processes and architecture, built on a foundation of existing GS1 Standards, are the connective tissue that holds the sensor network together.
The GS1 Standards that form the foundation for interoperable and optimized cold chain visibility include:
GS1 Standards are technology agnostic and can therefore be used in conjunction with many types of data carriers. This ensures that key cold chain identification data (product, location, entity, etc.) can be stored in the specific data carrier that best fits the relevant phase of the cold chain. Due to the complex nature of a product’s journey through the cold chain, there are a wide variety of sensors that could address different use cases that arise.
In this whitepaper, discover how different sensor technologies have been deployed in the cold supply chain:
While some of the sensor technologies discussed may not appear in current GS1 Standards implementation guidelines, they are increasing in prevalence in the cold chain ecosystem. Therefore, it is important to consider the various sensor technologies in achieving interoperability.
When it comes to cold chain management, the principal concern on supply chain leaders’ minds is whether their product has been kept within the permissible temperature throughout its journey. Cold storage facilities often advertise a variety of climate control parameters, not just frozen and refrigerated. Different products have different permissible temperature thresholds, and some products may accept short deviations permitted boundaries—but only for certain durations.
By defining product‑specific temperature parameters and business rules—and making this information available through the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network™ (GS1 GDSN®) or via a web resource using GS1 Digital Link—trading partners can support automated cold chain exception management using EPCIS in combination with sensor‑enabled RFID technologies.
Building on the benefits established through standardized identification and data capture, the application of GS1 Standards in the data sharing layer can support the effective use of IoT‑generated data across trading partners. When this data is captured and shared consistently, it may be used to enable advanced analytics, including artificial intelligence–based analysis, to support timely and informed decision‑making.
The real answer to which is better depends on what you want to use it for. RAIN RFID is best for inventory management and asset tracking because it offers a broad-spectrum solution to your problem with long-range capabilities. NFC is best for single communication over small distances.
NFC has a wide range of uses to transfer data securely. Many retailers use NFC devices daily for payments with Apple Pay and Google Pay. They’re also used in travel and event tickets, student and employee ID badges, and healthcare monitoring. Whether transferring anything from payment information to sharing wifi passwords encrypted company files, or simply using an NFC tag to open a door, there is a plethora of applications.
RFID tags are often used within a few meters, while NFC tags are limited to centimeters.
Understanding the overlap and differences between RFID and NFC will help you decide which is right for you. Each serves users with unique functionality that can help to streamline business operations and better serve your customers.
Here are additional resources that might interest you.
*What is RAIN RFID?
Radio frequency identification or RFID is a technology that enables the sharing of data encoded in RFID tags via RFID scanners. The term RAIN RIFD specifies use of the UHF frequency band, which leverages the GS1 air interface protocol to communicate with tags.
GS1 refers to “RAIN RFID” tags in this document whenever making reference to UHF RFID tags. NOTE: Within the UHF RFID technology space, GS1 only endorses RAIN RFID implementations that are encoded per GS1’s EPC standards (which is a subset of all RAIN RFID implementations).
