Quality and safety of the cold chain undergo strict international regulations that identify storage and shipping temperatures In fact, the improper handling and transportation of temperature-sensitive products such as food and pharmaceuticals may have harmful effects on human health and a negative economic impact A passive RFID tag modified with a copper-doped ionic liquid was used to detect the crossing of a temperature threshold (8 °C) during the shipping of medical products The tag was insensitive to humidity variations and irreversibly changed its status once temperature exceeded the ionic liquid melting point, which can be tuned by changing the concentration of dopant

A temperature-sensitive RFID tag for the identification of cold chain failures

The Cold Chain

It is necessary and important to develop a simple, accurate, stable, and low-cost quality detection sensor for ensuring the quality of the fish. This paper aims to develop a flexible wireless pH sensor system to detect the freshness of fish. The pH sensor system consists of an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode, an Ag/AgCl reference electrode, a computing adder, and a wireless communication module. The operational amplifier addition circuit raises the overall potential signal collected by the pH electrode and sends it to the wireless reader from the sensor tag. The sensitivity of the pH electrode is −50.974 mV/pH, and other properties of the electrode, such as reproducibility and response times, are excellent. This paper uses a flexible wireless pH sensor system to continuously monitor fish meat stored at 28 °C for 36 h. The experimental results show that the pH of the fish tissue solution changes with the quality of the fish, and the flexible wireless pH sensor system can achieve accuracy, convenience, and long-term wireless food quality inspection.

Flexible wireless pH sensor system for fish monitoring

– Mobile computing devices are a significant access point for information activities. Theories and models of human information behaviour have developed over several decades but have not considered the role of the user's computing device in digital information interactions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the information behaviours of young adults when they are given unlimited access to mobile tablet devices. , – As information tasks, behaviours and communities shift into digital environments, a researcher of these phenomena is required to mirror that movement with techniques that allow a full exploration of human behaviour and interaction in the online world. Following Kozinets (2009), “netnography” (ethnography in online communities) is applied in this study and all data are collected online from within a community of iPad users, established for the research purpose. , – This study reveals that access to mobile tablet devices creates significant shifts in the behaviours of young adults whose lives are immersed in digital information. Mobile tablet devices establish the potential for constant access to digital information and that opportunity is grasped by the participants in this research. Extensive use of mobile device applications or “apps” establishes a more selected and restricted view of information than that encountered in the open and expansive World Wide Web. , – This paper invites extension to human information behaviour theories and models to include a consideration of computing access device and of new mobility and constancy of access – all of which changes the circumstances and behaviour of the information actor.

The impact of mobile tablet devices on human informational behaviour

In the experiment for this paper we test a methodology for measuring interference in communication signals between a flight controller and peripheral devices of a UAV during a flight operation where the UAV is interacting with a 400 kV power line. Maintenance and inspection of power lines are vital for delivering energy supporting our modern society and it is an active research subject to explore autonomous systems as an alternative to the manual maintenance operations as these are both costly and dangerous. Supported by multiple research papers we believe that UAVs will be used for autonomous power line inspection in the future. Thus it is important to design them robust and tolerant of the electromagnetic harsh environment they are operating in and as traditional EMC measures such as heavy shielding and connectors counteract the UAVs payload capability and battery life, an EMC software solution can improve the robustness of the UAV. We have performed multiple experiments where the UAV is in contact with the 400 kV power line without any notable faults for the UAV operator. In this work, we expanded our Hardware-based EMI Injection for Software Testing (HEIST) methodology to be able to monitor multiple signals simultaneously, we recorded and detected continuous interference in the data signals as the UAV approached the power line. The interference can cause data corruption and needs to be handled safely e.g. by software, as these potentially cause the UAV to crash. The recorded data can with the HEIST approach be used to simulate the harsh environment in field tests by injecting the logic-level disturbances into the flight controller while the UAV is flying and thereby test if the system is fault-tolerant against the interference caused by the actual power line.

Experimental Investigation of EMC Weaknesses in UAVs During Overhead Power Line Inspection

This paper gives and overview of Cold Chain temperature measuring solutions available on a commercial market and introduces an approach of building a smart system for fresh fish transportation, called Smart-Fish. The system measurement ability ranges beyond a temperature measurement. It also features a GPS-based tracking and may be equipped with other types of sensors. A great domain-specific applicability for real-time measures and potentially low production cost stands the system out of crowd of similar solutions. Printed electronics technologies were utilised for temperature sensor, the key element of the system. The paper describes a set of requirements, results of material tests and final selection of material for this element.

Smart-fish system for fresh fish cold chain transportation — Overall approach and selection of sensor materials

The Nordic countries have an intermediate climate with actual four seasons. The weather here varies from summer hot to winter, freezing with rain and snow and all the water elements between them. In this paper, we will investigate the Nordic challenges for Unmanned Aircraft System operations. We have classified them into technological and operational categories. In a recent white paper, MIT Lincoln Laboratory concluded that drone pilots needed to account for ten weather parameters to ensure a successful flight of their uAS. We see, based on our long-term experience and extensive literature review, that these parameters need to be understood what is their meaning on the technological and operational level. We push these learnings on our DroneMaster project to bring education for professional UAS operators.

Overview of the Nordic Challenges for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

The European Union (EU) regulations regarding the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that came into force in 2021 emphasise technological and operational safety. Those regulations have been developed on the common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The implementation of the regulations and compliant UAS operator activities are still the ground of the future. Therefore, it is essential to systematically gather information about all the factors affecting UAS operations in a safe and meaningful manner. This book chapter introduces the Nordic as well as generic challenges for UAS operations. The challenges can be divided into two main categories: technological and operational. Based on the extensive literature review and authors’ practical experience, both types of challenges are grouped by relevance topics. For example, the weather-related phenomena challenges overlap in both technological and operational categories but still can be mitigated differently. Technological challenges are usually mitigated by UAS design and human-computer interactions, while operational challenges may be mitigated with legislation and organisational activities and personal UAS operator qualities. Finally, the needs for further research on the challenges affecting safe UAS operations are discussed.

Henry Hinkula

Papers

Smart-fish system for fresh fish cold chain transportation — Overall approach and selection of sensor materials

Overview of the Nordic Challenges for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Unmanned Aircraft Systems and the Nordic Challenges