Cold Chain IoT Temperature Monitoring — Pharmaceutical & Food Logistics
A GPS + temperature monitoring system for a pharmaceutical cold chain across 150 refrigerated vehicles — catching 99.8% of temperature excursions before product spoilage, saving $2.3M in the first year.
⚠The Problem
A pharmaceutical logistics company was distributing temperature-sensitive vaccines and biologics across 150 refrigerated vehicles in Pakistan. Temperature excursions (product going outside 2–8°C range) were detected hours later when a driver or warehouse operative manually checked a paper log. By then, the product was compromised and had to be destroyed — costing $2.3M annually in product losses. WHO GDP compliance required temperature logs at ≤30-minute intervals, which was done manually.
💡Our Solution
We installed an IoT temperature logger in each vehicle: ESP32 with SIM7600 4G, high-accuracy STS31 temperature sensors (±0.1°C) at 3 points in the cargo compartment, GPS, and a door sensor. Data is published every 5 minutes (or immediately on excursion) to AWS IoT Core. A Lambda function detects any excursion from the 2–8°C range within 60 seconds of onset and fires SMS + dashboard alerts. InfluxDB stores complete temperature history at 5-minute resolution. The system auto-generates WHO GDP-compliant temperature excursion reports in PDF format, ready for submission to regulatory authorities.
🔗System Architecture
ESP32 Logger (4G) → MQTT → AWS IoT Core → Lambda (excursion detection) → InfluxDB + DynamoDB → React DashboardTech Stack
- ESP32 + SIM7600 4G module
- High-accuracy temp sensors (±0.1°C, STS31)
- Humidity sensor (SHT31)
- GPS module (u-blox)
- Door open sensor
- Backup battery (72-hour endurance)
- 4G LTE (primary)
- LoRaWAN backup in coverage gaps
- MQTT to AWS IoT Core
- SMS excursion alerts
- AWS IoT Core
- DynamoDB (excursion events)
- InfluxDB (temperature history)
- Lambda (excursion detection + alerts)
- React dashboard with live temperature + GPS map
- Excursion report generator (PDF)
- Regulatory audit trail viewer
Key Features
Results Delivered
- 99.8% of temperature excursions caught before product spoilage
- $2.3M estimated annual product loss avoidance
- WHO GDP compliance achieved — no manual logs required
- Average excursion detection time reduced from 4 hours to 60 seconds
- Insurance premium reduced 12% due to documented compliance record
Technologies
Who This Is For
Pharmaceutical distributors, vaccine logistics, food cold chain operators, blood banks
Need a similar solution?
We've built production IoT systems like this across 15+ countries. Let's talk about yours.
Related Services
More Projects
IoT Fleet GPS Tracking System — Real-Time Vehicle Monitoring & AI Route Optimization
LoRaWAN Livestock Tracking System — Cow Monitoring with GPS & Health Sensors
LoRa Fish Tracking System — Aquaculture Monitoring in Open Water
Got an IoT challenge?
We've shipped it.
Whether you need a fleet to track, a factory to monitor, or a farm to automate — our team has done it before and we'd love to build it with you. Typical response time: under 24 hours.