Automated medication and inventory management, a traceable supply chain, and clear product authentication—smart labels are used in the healthcare sector in diverse ways today. In cooperation with “Sensing as a Service” company Wiliot, Schreiner MediPharm is now also developing innovative pharmaceutical labels with integrated, battery-free Bluetooth tags. They complement the portfolio of smart labels with RFID and NFC technology and offer pharmaceutical manufacturers additional, application-specific options for connectivity solutions.

Bluetooth is an established wireless technology for data transmission. It is integrated in every smartphone and many other devices. In the area of professional uses, Bluetooth tags are utilized for purposes such as asset tracking, for instance to locate equipment in hospitals. They are read by means of low-cost Bluetooth gateways (devices creating a connection between two systems) or via smartphones and achieve read ranges of several meters.

The integration of Bluetooth tags in flexible labels has not been possible until now, because they used to require an installed battery as a minimum. This is not the case with Bluetooth tags from Wiliot, called IoT Pixels—which makes them unique in combination with the smart Pharma-Labels developed by Schreiner MediPharm: Unlike normal Bluetooth devices, the innovative Bluetooth-Labels do not need a directly integrated energy source. Instead, they harvest ambient energy, for instance from available wireless LANs or other Bluetooth devices.

The smart label then actively transmits a unique identification number, sensor data, and other information to the receiving devices. The smart Bluetooth Pharma-Labels are suitable for a wide variety of applications such as monitoring the supply and cold chain, optimization of inventory management, or for brand protection. In addition to the established RFID/NFC solutions, Schreiner MediPharm thus offers another technological option for individual customer applications featuring sophisticated label designs. The connectivity experts from Schreiner MediPharm provide customers with consultation services regarding the solutions best suiting their needs.