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Parameter examples: Cold Chain Tracking

Article Tags: Cold Chain Tracking G120 Remora2 Bluetooth Falcon Sensornode BLE

Cold Chain Tracking allows the user to:

  1. Track the real-time temperature
  2. Receive an alert if the temperature drops below or rises above the enabled Temperature Low and/or High Thresholds, respectively.
  3. Provide data on operational temperatures to ensure adherence to guidelines

We will be covering three different types of Cold Chain tracking. There are other combinations that you can use that are listed below.

  • A stationary Falcon monitoring a cool room
  • A Falcon installed in a vehicle tracking the movement of the vehicle + temperature of the refrigerator
  • A G120 and SensorNode Bluetooth® wireless temp monitoring solution

Cold Chain Capable Devices

DeviceSuitable for
Remora2Long life Battery Powered device without direct inputs.
Can pair with Bluetooth temperature sensors
EagleCan run on battery or Direct power. Bluetooth capable with multiple direct sensor inputs (i2C, RS-485 & SDi12)
G120Direct power with higher rate of Vehicle tracking & Bluetooth pairing to sensor
FalconCan run on Direct power with battery backup, direct i2C sensor inputs.

Wiring Set up of Temperature Sensors

 Instructions for wiring up Sensors

Please see these links for wiring instructions for the Falcon, the Eagle and the SensorNode Bluetooth


Stationary Devices Moving Assets SensorNode BLE for wireless temp sensing

Below is an example of setup for a Falcon installed in a fixed location, periodically sampling and uploading temperature readings. i.e. a device installed fridges/cool rooms and controlled environments.

In this case, the goal is to monitor temperature of a cool room and alert if it falls out of the acceptable temperature range 2°C to 6°C. In parameters these are set as our Low and High Thresholds, respectively. 

We want to take a temperature sample every 10 minutes and upload every 4 hours but if a threshold is breached we want an upload. Note, since we sample every 10 minutes, this is the potential delay we may see in receiving an alert . The device can only determine that it is outside the configured threshold as each sample is taken. So we must make sure we set the device up to sample often enough to support prompt alerts (10 min is sufficient here).

This System Parameters template can be found on OEM, called 'DM Demo - Cold Chain Tracking (Static)'/DMA Demo - Cold Chain Static'.

Setup:

  1. Add the Advanced Tracking parameter tab and set the 'Tracking Mode' to 'Periodic Tracking Only'
  2. Set 'Location Fix on Heartbeat' to 'Yes', allows the device to get a location fix on the Heartbeat period which is set in the Basic Tracking parameters tab. 
  3. Other parameters can be left as default.

Note

Once you set the Mode to periodic tracking, the other settings that are trip related will not affect the parameter setup when configuring your device.

Under the Basic Tracking parameter tab, the 'Heartbeat Upload Period' is set to 720 minutes (12 hours) by default. This allows for a refresh of the GPS fix twice  a day. The In Trip parameters are disabled due to the periodic tracking mode selected previously.

If you're using a single Digital Matter temperature probe, add in the DM Temp Sensor 1 parameter tab. This tab sets the Analogue input number to write the data to. This is Input 8 by default on the Falcon and Eagle devices.

In the Task 1 parameter tab, because we have set the device to 'Periodic Tracking Only', the Out Of Trip Period/Upload Multiplier is set and the In Trip Period/Upload Multiplier are disabled. The other parameter options are as follows:

Period Unit
Set to Minutes. If you want to use 'Minutes Synced to hours' you'll have to set up the after hours & time zones
Out of Trip Period
Set to 10 minutes. This is the logging period for the temperature sample
Out of Trip Upload Multiplier
We want to upload every 4 hours, so set to 24. 24x 10 = 240 i.e. 4 hours
Start/End of Period
This is a feature of Minutes synced to hours, if you want to specify a certain time period to only sample inside, enter in UTC hour times
Digital Input Trigger
Choose a digital input that when activated the sample runs.
Run on Location fix
Leave as No
Item 1 Type
Select DM Temperature Sensor
Item 1 Params
Leave set to 0, this is for other sensors that may require power up times etc

The Analogue Threshold 1 parameter tab allows you to set the Low and High Temperature Thresholds

'Analog Input' refers to the above 'Log Analogue Num' you selected in the previous parameter setting, i.e. Input 8. See below for further parameters.

Enable Low Threshold
Set to Yes
Enable High Threshold
Set to Yes
High Threshold Value
Set this field to 6 Degrees. Temperature is scaled by a factor of 100. i.e. enter 600 to set a threshold value of 6 Degrees.
Low Threshold Value
set this field to 2 Degrees
Upload on Event
Set this field to Yes to upload on a first sample being taken outside a threshold limit
Log Record on Event End
Set this field to Yes to enable an log on return to readings within thresholds
Upload on Event End
Set this field to yes to upload on return to inside threshold limits
Log Record every Event
Log an extra Threshold exceeded log every log outside the thresholds, rather than just start and end of event.
Upload Every Event
Upload on every log capture during threshold exceeded events
Hysteresis
Declare a value that the readings must drop below the threshold to end and re-enable the start of an event. This stops multiple alerts being generated if the temp goes to 6.1, then back to 5.9, then back etc (small changes about the threshold value). Set to 50 to require the temp to drop back below 5.5 or above 2.5 degrees to end the 'out of threshold' event. 
Digital Alarm Input
Set a digital input to activate when event begins. 

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