Fighting crime and protecting critical pharmaceutical supply chains through a novel integrated tracing system and ERP solution

The PharmaLock project will address main buying drivers as performance, reliability and quality. There are several technical challenges that will need to be met to realize this device concept. These are in particular: 1) development of a new 2D bar code methodology and standard that will hold a large volume of encrypted and complex information, while the method of encoding will prevent counterfeiters from recovering the original information; (2) development of a line speed 2D bar code reader capable of performing of up to 1,600 readings per minute on various items labelled with both overt and covert 2D bar codes; (3) a prototype of a data processing unit implementing developed conversion method able to provide at least 1,600 conversions per minute interfacing to other system components using industrial communication standards, (4) development a hand held scanner capable of reading overt information (white light visible overt 2D bar code) and an IR visible covert (white light invisible) information in two planes while being tolerant to the item orientation, and retrieving data bound to the item (container, bag and load palette), retrieving information on location, wirelessly communicating with a central database, sending captured information, and reporting to the user within 10 seconds based on Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity and (5) creation of a scalable database system split into layers to store and retrieve the information needed to track, trace and verify the identity of a given item able to: handle up to 250,000 new records daily, process up to 100,000,000 records, provide answering time lower than 5 seconds, allow for up to 1,000 automated concurrent remote queries, and provide sufficient data integrity and protection.