08 November 2018

PUERTO RICO - AT&T and Softbox have conducted proof of concept trials to see how drones can be used to safely deliver temperature-sensitive medicines in areas affected by natural disasters.

A flying Smartbox From AT&T and Softbox shows how the IoT can help safely deliver vital medicines in a crisis.

UK-based Softbox provides specialist temperature control packaging to the pharmaceutical industry.

In late August, it was announced that an LTE-connected drone carrying Skypod – Softbox’s thermal-insulated packaging system which includes a smartbox powered by AT&T’s IoT technology – successfully completed demonstration flights.

The trials took place in locations across Puerto Rico in collaboration with pharmaceutical company Merck.

AT&T’s IoT technology tracks the Skypod with data viewed on a web and mobile app dashboard.

The data includes the box’s near-real time external and internal temperatures and its location.

The dashboard can flash alerts to help drive appropriate action – for example, it will send an alert if there is a change to the temperature range of 2°C to 8°C.

It will also send an alert if the drone goes outside of defined geofencing parameters.

Furthermore, during daylight, light exposure data helps signal if the payload has been tampered with by determining if the package is open or closed.

AT&T’s various control centres connect and manage the Skypod’s sensor data transmission, and the web and mobile app reporting dashboard.

The drone is also connected to the AT&T network, providing a communications path for flight plan and telemetry data between the drone and ground control system. 

Softbox worked with the AT&T Foundry to develop its Skypod from a prototype that started out as a connected flask.

The foundry is a network of innovation centres that collaborates with startups, technology providers and enterprises to move ideas to market faster through rapid prototyping.

It moved the IoT sensors that track temperature and location from the lid of the original prototype and integrated them into the smartbox.

AT&T is keen to work on projects that showcase what it describes as the “IoT for Good”.

After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico last year, the company deployed the Flying COW (Cell on Wings), a mobile site on a drone.

It was the first time a drone had been used to connect residents with their mobile phone services after a disaster.