ASIC Integration in Supply Chain Control Devices: The Key to a Competitive Advantage

Supply chain management is critical to the success of many businesses, but it can be a complex and challenging process. The use of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) has revolutionized supply chain management by enabling real-time data collection, analysis, and decision-making. In this sense, an ASIC is potentially a game changer for monitoring your supply chain. In this article, we will explore the benefits of sensors for supply chain management. We will also discuss the design considerations and challenges involved in developing ASICs for these sensors in supply chain management applications.

Sensor nodes are a relevant solution to capture and transfer data

The idea behind monitoring the supply chain is to create a sensor node network that can capture shipment data across the entire supply chain. For example, in the case of high value freights, it is crucial to know where the goods are physically located at all times. 

There could be several ways of doing this – and one might suggest the use of GPS. Another approach is to have a gateway installed at access points to warehouses or inside warehouses that record shipment at entry and depart. This approach utilizes RFID communication instead of GPS. 

Another key feature in monitoring the supply chain is to monitor important environmental parameters that are critical for the goods being transported. For example, this can be successfully used for pharmaceutical products, sensitive chemicals or food. For these products it may be very important to ensure that they have not been exposed to temperatures outside a certain range or that the humidity has been kept at a certain level during the shipment. This helps to protect precious inventory, which otherwise may need to be scrapped because it has been damaged and can’t be sold. Using sensors can help to reduce waste. The great benefit of using sensors is that they can monitor and capture shipment status 24/7.

Sensor ASIC for Intelligent Supply Chain Management

Specific benefits for supply chain management

Monitoring the product along the supply chain and ensuring that the quality of the product is maintained is known as “intelligent supply chain management.” The benefit is that critical parameters such as temperature or mechanical shocks or light can be tracked and recorded for documentation. The recording parameters can include corrective actions, for instance, an alarm that alerts that the product will soon be compromised or damaged, further preventing loss of expensive inventory.

Recording when the critical parameters were compromised is important for placing responsibility between different handlers within the supply chain. The data can also be used for training to improve handling as a preventative measure in the future. 

In some cases it is unknown if the product has experienced a temperature, humidity or other change and the inventory will be scrapped as a safe measure. The ability to have data throughout the entire supply chain eliminates this guessing and helps protect goods. 

Pharmaceutical product monitoring

A good example of such monitoring is for pharmaceutical products. They tend to be very expensive, and the integrity of the supply chain is important all the way from the factory to the end user. In this specific case, using sensors to monitor the entire supply chain is highly valuable.

Wireless communication

Wireless communication is very practical and easy to handle when it comes to accessing the data. The shipment parameters history can be read at a distance or even through a sealed bag without opening the box.

Generic Sensor ASIC, a best-in-class solution to monitor your supply chain

At the center of the intelligent supply chain management device is an ASIC. A generic ASIC for intelligent supply chain management has two components: a monitoring device and a sensor.

The sensors are designed specifically for each application and the critical parameters that need to be monitored. For some products temperature is important, others might focus on air pressure, etc. So, the use of a combination of sensors is relevant for monitoring the shipment along the full supply chain. The sensor’s interface is unfortunately not standardized. For this reason, it is often necessary to have a dedicated analog front-end interface and also some signal conditioning of the sensors samples before they are converted into a digital value. This digital value is what can be stored in a non-volatile memory for documentation. Some sensors can easily be integrated in an ASIC, for example photodiodes and temperature sensors. 

But other sensors may need a specialized technology and will need to be external to the ASIC. The monitoring part of the sensors system may have a microprocessor and software onboard that can be customized to the specific needs required for that particular supply chain monitoring system. For storing the sensor’s historical data, a non-volatile memory like a flash is used that ensures that the data is maintained even if there is a power loss to the device. 

For wireless communication of the measured data, RFID, Bluetooth or another protocol can be used, however this depends on the reading distance and the power availability of the system. The more advanced the communication is, the more battery is required. For location tracking, GPS can be used as a simple way of detecting check in and check out along a gateway at entrance/exit points of the warehouse.

Benefit from a customized ASIC solution for supply chain

The benefit of using an ASIC is that it can be customized to fit the specific needs of the device and application. 
As an added benefit, confidentiality of the ASIC IP is protected versus using an off-the-shelf standard integrated circuit. It is not as easy to copy a sensor system with a customized ASIC as it would be if you were using standard components and a PCB.
An ASIC is also a more reliable component to use, since the use of a standard off-the-shelf component could result in it being obsolete after a few years. 

Furthermore, with an ASIC, you are in control of the scalability of the complexity the device. It can be a simple system that is only applicable for individual objects or it could be a more complex system that monitors more data about pallets and collection of objects when being shipped.