RFID TECHNOLOGY: Drugs that speak to you
By Asina Pornwasin, The Nation asina@nationgroup.com
Need to take a pill? Just pick up its container and listen to what the drug says
to you.
Despite not reading any drug label, you can make sure that you'll never take the
wrong one.
An innovation aimed primarily but not exclusively
for the blind will soon allow anyone to follow the instructions when taking
medicine just by listening to the drug, said Chamnarn Punyasai, head of the
Thailand IC-Design Incubator (TIDI) unit at the National Electronics and
Computer Technology Centre.
TIDI is now developing what it calls a speaking drug label, technology that
integrates radio-frequency-identification (RFID) technology and voice recording
to allow drug labels to talk to users. It will tell the name of the medicine and
also give instructions on its use and information about it's quality and
possible side effects.
Chamnarn said the technology was developed to initially serve those who were
visually impaired. "Once we finish the prototypes we will give them to the
Assistive Technology Centre to test before developing them in mass volume for
the blind," said Chumnarn. "With this technology, the blind, for example, can
take any medicine with no need to ask for help. Once they pick up the medicine,
it will talk to them."
A small RFID chip will be attached to the drug label. To make the drug talk,
users just use an RFID reader to get information from the label and the reader
will match the information with a drug directory in a small database embedded in
the reader.
In a few seconds, when the reader gets the name of drug, it will "tell" users
what they need to know, including what the drug is, what it is used for, when it
will expire, how to take it, and any precautions that apply. Chamnarn says TIDI
was developing an RFID reader that will be small - about the same size as a
mobile phone - and weigh 200 to 300 grams.
Three components
The system is designed to read drug container labels, match them with a
directory and then speak out the details of that drug. It is an integration of
two technologies - RFID and voice recording.
In the RFID reader there are three components: the RFID receiver to detect the
RFID tag, a processor to convert the RFID tag into a digital signal and a
database containing voice records of details of the drug.
The devices use a frequency of 125 kilohertz and can communicate within 10
centimetres. There are now around 40 drug records in the database. Each record
contains a 10-second voice recording. All are common medicines used in daily
life. It is expected that a prototype will be completed in the next three
months.
The development cost of each reader is about Bt2,500, while the passive RFID tag
contained on the drug label costs about Bt50 to Bt100.
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