PowerTMP RFID Tags

Affordable Cold Chain Monitoring

January 2008

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Table of Contents
The Need for Cold Chain Monitoring ................................................................................. 3
Today’s Cold Chain Monitoring Solutions ........................................................................... 3
PowerID PowerTMP Sensor Tags: The Concept ................................................................... 5
PowerTMP Sensor Tag Overview ...................................................................................... 6
PowerTMP Sensor Tag Technical Details............................................................................ 7
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 7
PowerID PowerTMP Tag Specifications -- DRAFT ............................................................... 8

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 The Need for Cold Chain Monitoring
“Perishables are
responsible for 56% of The amount of perishables shipped worldwide in the cold chain is
shrink, 46% of which is sizable. Each year, perishables suppliers ship over five billion pallets
due to temperature- valued at $2.6 trillion of chilled meats, seafood, cheese, and produce,
related events. For a as well as temperature sensitive pharmaceutical and biomed
chain of 300 stores, products (EPCglobal).
that’s $34 million a
year.” Unfortunately for perishables suppliers and their retail customers,
losses incurred due to spoilage are also significant. A survey by the
National Supermarket Research Group found that a 300 store
National Supermarket
grocery chain loses about $34 million a year due to spoilage. On an
Research Group Survey
industry-wide level, losses due to spoilage and shrinkage translate
into $32 billion for chilled meats, seafood, and cheese; $34 billion for
produce; and $5.4 billion for pharmaceutical and biomed products
(EPCGlobal).

Products such as data loggers, active RFID tags, and temperature

indicators attempt to address the need of cutting these losses, yet
with little success. Existing solutions fail to provide cold chain supply
managers with the right information at the right time at the right cost.
The result is usually inadequate and inaccurate detail, on the one
hand, or very granular detail that arrives in an untimely manner, on
the other.

The ability to integrate temperature sensing capabilities into an

ultrahigh frequency (UHF) RFID label has revolutionary implications
since it has the potential to combine timely access to accurate data
with an affordable solution. An affordable RFID sensor label enables
pallet and even carton level ambient monitoring and near real time
cold chain visibility. This visibility, in turn, would lower losses,
increase product quality, and, ultimately, enable customer acquisition
and increased top and bottom lines for suppliers of perishables.

Today’s Cold Chain Monitoring Solutions

A supply chain manager has a number of solutions at his disposal to
monitor his cold chain, namely data loggers, time temperature
indicator labels, and active RFID tags. Though each option provides
data for decision making, it has disadvantages that often outweigh its
advantages as described below:

Data Loggers: Providing the ability to monitor and record

temperature, data loggers cost $50-100. These costs make them
relevant for trailer or container level monitoring. One drawback
with trailer level monitoring is that temperatures differ in different
parts of a trailer. Other disadvantages are that data loggers
cannot provide real time monitoring, the data being available only
at the end point of a shipment, and that data loggers use a
proprietary RFID infrastructure.

Active RFID Data Loggers: More recently, active RFID sensor

data loggers have become available. Though they offer the
possibility for real time monitoring, their costs are high. They are
applicable at the trailer and container level, which, as mentioned
above, gives ambient indications of only one part of a trailer and
container. Like their non-RFID cousins, active RFID data loggers

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“Environmental
conditions can vary widely
within a truck or other
enclosed area. Pallet-level
monitoring, enabled by
cold chain RFID
technology, allows small
groups of products to be
evaluated separately from
their neighbors.”
John Edwards, “Cold Chain
Heats Up,” RFID Journal
also use proprietary, stand-alone infrastructure which impose
limitations on their installation in various nodes of the supply
chain, especially at partner sites.

High Frequency Data Loggers: High frequency loggers cost
$10-20 and require a handheld interrogating device. The
handheld can retrieve data from the handheld at low ranges. On
the one hand, this price level enables usage at the pallet level;
on the other, stand-alone infrastructure is needed, and data is
not received in real time on a system-wide level.

TT Indicators: Time Temperature indicators are low cost strips
that can be applied at the item level in cold chains, requiring
visual inspection and human intervention. Though they provide a
tool for on-the-spot decision making, TT indicators do not provide
information on cold chain history and, hence, cannot provide real
time monitoring or analytics.
One common disadvantage all available solutions share is that they
use proprietary technologies. This means that they cannot take
advantage of existing automatic identification infrastructure that
complies with EPCglobal standards and is already in use by retailers
to improve the efficiency of their supply chains.
Thus, real time cold chain visibility is unattainable at present, and
cold chain managers receive only partial data upon which they must
base decisions. To date, no solution has been able to combine
affordability, pallet and carton level tracking, real-time monitoring,
and the ability to take advantage of existing, standards-compliant
RFID infrastructure.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Existing
Cold Chain Monitoring Solutions
Advantages Disadvantages
(a) Monitor and store time (a) High cost ($50-$100)
Data Loggers and temperature with high (b) No real time alert; data
memory available at final point
(b) Analytic tools (c) Logistics of re-use
(d) Trailer or container level
Active RFID (a) Monitor and store time (a) High cost ($50-100)
Data Loggers and temperature with high (b) No real time alert; data
memory sent wirelessly for further
(b) Good read ranges analysis
(c)Logistics of re-use
(d) Trailer level
High (a) Monitor and store time (a) Low read range
Frequency and temperature with high (b) High cost ($10-20)
RFID Data memory (c) No real time alert; data
Logger (b) Analytic tools available at final point
(d) Trailer, container and
high value pallet level
TT indicator (a) Low cost (a) No analytics
(b) Provides use / discard (b) Requires visual
indication inspection at the item level.
(c) Item level Time consuming
(c) No real time alert
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 PowerID PowerTMP Sensor Tags: The Concept
PowerID’s PowerTMP
tags allow cold chain PowerID’s PowerTMP sensor tag family revolutionizes cold chain
managers to affordably visibility. For the first time, cold chain managers have the ability to
monitor their affordably monitor their perishables in near real time at the pallet and
perishables in near real carton level. In addition, since PowerTMP tags comply with ISO
time at the pallet and 18000-6C, including the Simple Sensor standard, supply chain
carton level. managers can utilize existing EPCglobal Class 1, Gen. 2 and ISO
18000-6C compliant infrastructure.

The PowerTMP tag family consists of low cost tags that include an
RFID chip and a temperature sensor, an antenna, and a power
source. In contrast to available solutions, PowerTMP analyzes
temperature and time data internally and generates an alert flag in
case of an out-of-range temperature event. The alert flag is
appended to the EPC ID message which is backscattered by the
RFID tag when it is within range of an RFID reader. In addition, out-
of-range temperature and time data are recorded in the non-volatile
memory for further investigation.

PowerTMP tags provide the following benefits:

Two products for different needs: The PowerTMP product

family includes PowerTMP SL and PowerTMP ML. The
PowerTMP SL provides a record of one out-of-range event, and
the PowerTMP ML can log up to 500 out-of-range events.
Customers may choose the product that best suits their needs
and budget.

Interoperable with existing infrastructure: PowerTMP

conforms with the 18000-6C standard, including the Simple
Sensor standard. This allows companies to make use of their
existing EPCglobal Class 1, Gen. 2 infrastructure without
investing capital in proprietary, stand-alone hardware.

Near real time monitoring: PowerTMP tags provide near real

time cold chain monitoring and alert functionality. Cold chain
managers can access information on out-of-range events as their
goods move through the supply chain, allowing them to make
decisions in real time.

Simplicity: PowerTMP stores exception events according to pre-

defined temperature values and can alert cold chain managers in
real time. Cold chain managers can then interrogate a given
label to extract detailed information that allows for well-informed
decisions.

Affordability: PowerTMP’s low price has significant implications

for cold chain monitoring. The affordable price as well as
selection of products enables a customer to build a business
case per his needs.

High read ranges and reliability: A battery on board the

PowerTMP label powers the sensor and enables high read
ranges and reliability in challenging cold chain environments that
as a rule include liquids and metals.

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 PowerTMP Sensor Tag Overview
"The read rates we're
getting from [tags PowerID’s PowerTMP tags are based on battery-assisted, passive
(BAP) RFID technology. BAP tags represent a new generation of
attached to] our
RFID transponders, combining the best features of active tags and
frozen or dry foods passive backscatter labels.
are in the 70-75%
range and even 20% Whereas passive labels rely on gathering energy from the reader’s
for some products. signal to wake up the label’s chip and provide the backscatter signal,
We are more BAP labels contain an integrated power source. This power source
concerned now with eliminates the need to gather energy from the reader and reach
the performance of excitation, a primary reason for the sometimes unsatisfactory
the tags we purchase performance of passive labels.
than with cost,
whereas initially we It should be emphasized that use of passive RFID labels with
had been more sensory capabilities is impractical. This is due to the fact that a
focused on finding passive label requires an energy source to power the sensor
functionality. Consequently, a passive label can provide sensor
low-cost tags.” capabilities only when adjacent to a reader. However, since readers
are typically located only at choke points such as distribution centers
George Chappelle, and retail locations, out-of-range events occurring while not adjacent
CIO, Sara Lee to a reader will not be recorded.

Since the PowerID label does not need to gather energy from the
reader to reach excitation, the antenna is optimized for providing
excellent backscattering enabling increased reliability and read rate
in the most challenging environments such as those including liquids
and metals that exist in the cold chain. This enables the antenna to
reflect the maximum backscatter signal resulting in:

Visibility of labels and assets that would otherwise not be read

due to signal deflections, reflections, or orientation issues.

High performance of the tag even when adjacent to cold chain

goods such as fruits, vegetables, seafood, meat, and poultry.

The chip on PowerTMP tags monitors temperature relative to time

and performs a calculation to evaluate whether it is within the
accepted temperature range or not. When an out-of-range event
occurs, the time stamp and temperature are stored in memory, and
when the PowerTMP tag is interrogated by a reader, it responds with
its EPC code and the Simple Sensor Data which are part of the EPC
message, indicating whether it has gone out of a pre-defined
temperature range. This means that a minimal amount of information
is passed to the reader at a read point. If a pallet or carton is
exposed to a temperature that is out of the predefined temperature
range, it can be taken aside, and the time stamp and temperature
data can be extracted from the PowerTMP tag.

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PowerTMP Sensor Tag Technical Details
The PowerTMP tag contains the following elements: an RFID chip
and a sensor, an antenna, and a battery. The PowerTMP tag
measures the temperature in pre-defined time intervals and operates
on the basis of "in range / out-of-range" event logging. That means
that the PowerTMP label performs actual temperature-related
calculations rather than just storing temperature and time. This
calculation is performed in order to analyze whether the event is an
“out-of-range” one, which needs to be stored in memory.

In the case of an out-of-range event, when the PowerTMP tag is

interrogated by an RFID reader, alarm flags will be sent in the Simple
Sensor Data Block which is appended to the tag EPC/UII to alert an
“out-of-range detection.” This enables the end-user to take the
specific pallet/case aside in order to interrogate the sensor and
download the out-of-range history. If there was no “out-of-range”
event, the flag will not be raised.

The internal timer sets the sample regime and turns “on” the
temperature sensor and the analog comparators at preset intervals. If
the temperature is within the pre-defined range, no record will be
recorded in the memory. If the temperature is out-of-range, the time
stamp will be recorded in the memory, together with the temperature.

In some cases, shelf life calculation is based on temperature versus

Time Integration (or TTI). To enable this, the PowerTMP tag can
multiply the number of counts recorded by the magnitude of the “out-
of-range temperature deviation” in order to provide temperature-time
integration data which can be used by the end-user to calculate the
remaining shelf life.

The main PowerTMP features, such as temperature range,

temperature time intervals and TTI option are programmable,
providing more flexibility for customer needs.

Conclusion
PowerID’s PowerTMP products are a revolutionary, providing cold
chain managers with an affordable, reliable, accurate way to track
their perishables in near real time. PowerTMP tags are based on
proven battery-assisted, passive (BAP) technology which utilizes off
the shelf hardware that conforms to international RFID standards.

The PowerTMP product family includes PowerTMP SL and

PowerTMP ML, giving cold chain managers the flexibility to choose
the tag that is right for their application based on their needs and
business case.

With PowerTMP technology, losses stemming from spoilage of

perishables can be reduced dramatically. Cold chain managers will
be able to treat the cold chain as a revenue driver by better
understanding quality of service provided by their shippers and by
identifying inefficiencies in their supply chain.

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 PowerID PowerTMP Tag Specifications -- DRAFT

PowerTMP SL
Air Interface Protocol EPCglobal Class 1, Gen 2; ISO
18000-6C (including Simple
Sensor)
Operating Frequency UHF, 860-960 MHz
Memory Capacity One record (temperature and
time stamp)
PowerTMP ML
EPCglobal Class 1, Gen 2; ISO
18000-6C (including Simple
Sensor)
UHF, 860-960 MHz
512 records (temperature and
time stamp)

Temperature Sample Interval Time ≥1 min ≥1 min

Temperature Measurement Range – 20°C to + 60°C – 30°C to + 60°C
Temperature Measurement Accuracy ±1º C ±0.5º C (within span of 30°C)
Time Measurement Accuracy 10 hours per month 0.5 hour per month
Read/Write Range 40m/3m (free space, line of 40m/40m (free space, line of
sight) * sight) *
Life Expectancy 0.5 years ** 2 years **
Form Factor Label or encapsulated tag Encapsulated tag
Operation When Battery Dies Acts as a passive tag NA
Dimensions 85X54X0.9 mm 95X60X5 mm
Delivery Format Single or roll Single
RoHS compliant Yes Yes
Operating Temperature -20º C to +60º C -30º C to +70º C
IP Classification Splash proof IP65
Reader support Select Class 1, Generation 2 Select Class 1, Generation 2
stationary and handheld stationary and handheld
readers readers

* Read range for Tag ID and status only, not for event logs stored on tag
** Actual life expectancy depends on temperature sample interval time and operating
temperature.

PowerID Ltd.
4 Hatnufa Street
-8-
Petah Tikva, 49510, ISRAEL
Tel: +972-3-929-3900
Fax: +972-3-929-3999