California-based Semtech and IoT network provider Everynet are working with Telkom Indonesia to track and monitor Covid-19 vaccine temperature.

The insulated vaccine carrier aims to decrease waste, improve customer confidence and increase inoculation rates via a LoRaWan. As vaccines must be stored at specific temperatures to maintain their efficacy, the insulated vaccine carrier offers an end-to-end system that gathers a continuous and consistent data stream in real time.

“Over the last two years, Everynet has been laying the groundwork along with our partner Telkom Indonesia to deploy a public LoRaWan in Indonesia,” said Ali Fahmi, Indonesia country manager for Everynet. “The end result now features over 200 Indonesian cities with LoRaWan coverage, with plans to further expand the coverage to more cities. The LoRaWan is ready to deliver simple, highly efficient, flexible and secure IoT throughout Indonesia.”

The insulated vaccine carrier leverages a national LoRaWan in Indonesia to avoid expensive front-end investments related to infrastructure build-up and maintenance. In addition, LoRaWan connectivity maintains high security and quality of connection for this use case. Overall, it can continuously maintain temperature stability for safer vaccines, decreasing the waste of this life-saving resource.

“The insulated vaccine carrier is leveraging IoT and LoRaWan to send accurate data and log the temperature systematically during distribution,” said Edi Witjara, director of enterprise and business service at Telkom Indonesia. “This relay of data will assist to guarantee the quality of the vaccine to comply with the regulation from Ministry of Health in Indonesia.”

Ibnu Alinursafa, senior manager for IoT platforms at Telkom Indonesia, added: “The LoRa-based insulated vaccine carrier accelerates the vaccination programme across Indonesia and is providing a quality service for the end customer.”

Covid-19 vaccines require deep freeze conditions to be maintained in the supply chain to ensure their efficacy. To maintain a proper environment for the vaccine, the vaccine temperature must be constantly monitored, recorded and reported throughout all steps of the supply chain. Due to the flexibility of the LoRaWan standard, the insulated vaccine carrier is a completely wireless, automated monitoring system. Whenever an anomaly in the data stream is detected, such as a drop or rise in temperature, a notification is sent to the end user who can immediately take corrective action.

“Everynet and Telkom Indonesia’s successful implementation of the LoRaWan standard for the insulated vaccine carrier is a great way to maintain the safe delivery of vaccines, which are critical in the fight against Covid-19 and other deadly diseases,” said Marc Pégulu, vice president at Semtech. “Now, critical aspects of the vaccine supply chain can be monitored at all times, highlighting a real life LoRaWan use for a critical need that is making the planet, and its citizens, healthier in a smarter manner.”

Everynet is a Finland-based LoRaWan operator and provides carrier grade networks in Asia, Emea and the Americas. Its neutral host network model enables mobile network operators, MVNOs and global MSPs to offer low-cost IoT immediately and profitably with zero upfront capex.

PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) is a state-owned information and communications technology enterprise and telecommunications network in Indonesia. The government of Indonesia is the majority shareholder with 52.09% shares while the remaining 47.91% shares belong to public shareholders.