Early this year, AIM announced the release of a sensor technical specification that would provide a universal method to interpret temperature threshold sensors used to enhance supply chain management and logistics in most industrial sectors.

Called ‘Application Identifier (8009) with Sensor Descriptor Attribute 01’ (Sensor AI 8009 01), is the result of an exclusive collaboration between GS1 and AIM that was launched in October 2017, to partner GS1’s Application Identifier data encodation rules with sensor technical specifications developed by AIM. This allows reading and interpretation of the sensor and barcode using a single scan.

Global standards director for GS1 US Ray Delnicki said: “The desire was to develop a way to interpret sensors.

“The first application is temperature threshold sensors, applied to vaccine vials dispensed in remote geographies, using a smart device scanning both the barcode and sensor on the label.

AIM Member and senior manager of technology innovations at Temptime Corporation Mohannad Abdo further shared the significance of the specification: “With the release of Sensor AI (8009) 01, the AIM-GS1 partnership has introduced a way for digital business transactions, typically executed using barcodes or radio frequency identification (RFID) will be able to easily capture, format and utilise dynamic data to enable greater integration between applications for automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) and the supply chain. Sensor AI (8009) 01 provides the cornerstone for optically readable sensors of any kind.”

An optically readable sensor indicator adds another dimension to an existing barcode format.  With Sensor AI (8009) 01, the value of both barcode and RFID tags is significantly enhanced by incorporating dynamic (rather than static) environmental monitoring.  It will also enable new applications for AIDC and support use in both Blockchain and Internet of Things programmes.

The release of Sensor AI (8009) 01 marks the first step in a process expected to yield additional specifications as the AIM-GS1 partnership continues work on detailed uses of this sensor technical specification.