RFID Based Tracking System for Ultra-Low Temperature Sample Repositories

描述（由申请人提供）：本阶段IIb（第二阶段竞争性更新）SBIR提案的具体目标是将我们在第二阶段赠款下开发的原型系统推进到商业化生产。我们的产品将用于自动跟踪实验室和生物库冰柜中的样品。这些样本大多储存在小瓶中。 每年销售2亿至5亿个此类小瓶，总市场约为2亿美元。 目前，样品跟踪的最新技术是二维条形码样品瓶。 这种方法在许多方面都存在福尔斯不足，导致样品降解、样品丢失以及每年数千工时的损失。 在我们的第二阶段研究中，这些主要问题得到了成功解决。我们开发了在超低温下可靠工作的RFID标签。 我们可以将这些标签可靠地贴在样品瓶和盛放样品瓶的盒子上。每个标签都有一个唯一的ID，并且可以通过冰箱中的电子设备读取。冰箱通过安全网络将其内容报告给授权实验室人员可以访问的样本数据库。我们的系统克服了上述所有挑战，并且该系统价格实惠，如商业化计划中所述。简而言之，通过提供每个样本位置的真实的-时间信息，我们的产品提供了一种解决方案，可以提高样本的完整性，减少维护生物样本库所需的人力。 我们已经收到了来自几个著名实验室的极好反馈，这些实验室在第二阶段测试了我们的RFID标签小瓶和盒映射器。 此外，我们还向许多实验室展示了我们的工作， 根据他们的反馈，似乎有很大的市场需求。 我们已经确定了一个明确的路线图，这将导致我们的第二阶段原型成功的商业产品的发展。 我们的具体目标是将我们在第二阶段赠款下开发的原型系统推向商业产品。为实现这一具体目标，我们将开展以下工作： 任务#1：设计和生产商业级组件。 任务#2：建立质量控制方法。 任务#3：建立全面的试点测试我们的产品。 在第二阶段结束时，我们预计到第二阶段结束时将有一个完全商业化的产品，销售额将达到380万美元。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The specific aim of this Phase IIb (Phase II competitive renewal) SBIR proposal is to advance the prototype systems we developed under our Phase II grant into commercial production. Our product will be used to automatically track samples in laboratory and biobank freezers. Most of these samples are stored in vials. Between 200 and 500 million such vials are sold each year, representing a total market of about $200M. Today, the state of the art for sample tracking is 2D barcoded sample vials. This method falls short on many fronts, resulting in sample degradation, lost samples, and up to thousands lost person hours per year. In our Phase II studies, these major problems were successfully addressed. We developed RFID tags that reliably function at ultra low temperatures. We can reliably attach these tags to sample vials and to the boxes that hold the vials. Each tag has a unique ID and is readable by electronics incorporated into the freezer. The freezer reports its contents through a secure network to a sample database that can be accessed by authorized lab personnel. Our system overcomes all of the challenges mentioned above and the system is affordable, as detailed in the Commercialization plan. In short, by providing real----time knowledge of the location of every sample, our product provides a solution that increases sample integrity and reduces the manpower needed to maintain a biobank. We have received excellent feedback from several well----known labs that tested our RFID tagged vials and box mappers in Phase II. In addition, we have presented our work to numerous laboratories and based on their feedback, there appears to be a large market need. We have identified a clear roadmap that will lead to the development of a successful commercial product from our Phase II prototype. Our specific aim is to advance the prototype systems we developed under the Phase II grant into a commercial product. To accomplish this specific aim, we will carry out the following tasks: Task #1: Design & produce commercial grade components. Task #2: Establish quality control methods. Task #3: Establish full scale pilots for testing our product. At the end of this Phase IIb, we expect to have a fully commercial product with sales on the order of $3.8M by the end of the Phase IIb.