U.S. Army tests RFID technology for medical biodefense management.Pet Microchip Dealer

　　U.S. Army tests RFID technology for medical biodefense management

　　When the experimenter takes out some of the most sensitive biological samples stored in the laboratory from the freezer, even only one minute will increase the temperature of the sample. This means that the process of manually counting laboratory inventory may bring risks to the sample itself. Therefore, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) has been testing an RFID-based solution for the past two years that allows highly sensitive samples to be counted without leaving the freezer. The institute is currently testing UHF RFID tags and readers in a laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

　　USAMRIID researches and develops medical countermeasures against the biological threats of the US military. They employ military and civilian scientists, cooperate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and multiple biomedical and academic institutions around the world, in the third and fourth levels of biosafety. Part of the work performed by the laboratory includes the development of medical solutions, such as vaccines and drugs, and the study of bioselective agents and toxins (BSAT) samples.

　　Rahman scans samples with RFID tags in USAMRIID's packaging freezer

　　The research institute tracks all BSATs in storage through actual inventory counting. "We must be 100% responsible for these samples." said Rahman, a microbiologist at USAMRIID and the head of the RFID research team.

　　Traditionally, inventory management means that every time staff inspect and record a sample, they usually take it out of the freezer, visually confirm the information of each sample with the naked eye, and then put the sample back into the freezer. This manual inspection method is time-consuming, labor-intensive and error-prone, and it also poses a risk to the integrity of the sample.

　　Generally speaking, these samples must be stored at -80°C (-112°F) or lower. "When they are taken out of the freezer, once the temperature starts to rise, the samples will degrade. Therefore, in addition to accountability, the laboratory also needs to maintain the integrity of the biological samples as much as possible." Rahman explained .

　　The purpose of the research institute is to use RFID to track all BSAT samples. The current research is mainly focused on testing hardware components, including many UHF tags and handheld readers. This requires 100% accurate reading of the label. At the same time, the team is exploring whether it can be scanned without opening the freezer. Rahman said that if the label information can be transmitted across the freezer, it will be faster and easier to take inventory of samples.

　　USAMRIID does not need manual statistical samples, but a solution that can read hundreds of samples at the same time. To date, the institute has owned labels provided by a number of companies including Avery Dennison and Tageos. These tags are read by handheld and fixed readers.

　　In addition, many samples are composed of liquids or stored in environments surrounded by metals, so the research team has been testing which tags are most effective in these environments. They read the tags every month to determine whether the sensitivity of the tags will decrease over time in an extremely cold environment. Rahman said, "After a year of testing, we got some interesting results."

　　Rahman explained, “We don’t allow a read rate below 100%, so every test option is very important. In addition, we also want to test RFID technology to track BSAT samples shipped from the institute. If you receive Sample subjects have also begun to use this technology, and the system will be able to identify the contents of the items being received. If this technology can be implemented in the institute, we will discuss the potential benefits of using the system to manage inventory with other facilities."

　　Researchers have not tested any temperature-sensing RFID tags. However, the team is currently considering linking the RFID data of each freezer with temperature data from a separate sensor system. Rahman said that if the RFID solution runs normally as planned, this can significantly reduce the time required to take inventory. On the other hand, it can eliminate manual inventory and maintain sample integrity, thereby reducing the incidence of human error.

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