Digital Twin technology from Merck and p-Chip ensures single product authenticity | 12-12-2023 |
Merck, the leading science and technology company, and an AIPIA member, has announced the successful integration of Chicago-based p-Chip’s micro-transponder technology as a crypto-anchor into a cyber-physical trust framework solution that is currently being developed by the healthcare giant. This achievement is a milestone in enabling the creation of secure digital twins of single physical products while ensuring their authenticity throughout their lifecycle, say the partners.
The combined solution facilitates the seamless integration of corresponding reader devices into customers' existing processes, ensuring digital authenticity and trust, they claim. Crypto anchors play a crucial role in identifying and authenticating physical objects within the cyber-physical trust framework. Various types of crypto anchors are deployed, from conventional QR codes, to RFID and high-security options such as Merck’s Securalic® security pigments. These pigments are used in highly regulated industries, where errors due to incorrect product attribution are a problem. The addition of p-Chip micro-transponders offers a highly secure and durable option to address increased security needs, it says. Designed with a small footprint of only 500x500x100 μm, they use a photocell for power and clock pulses, eliminating the need for induction coils or oscillators.
“We are committed to empowering companies to fully leverage the advantages of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and develop digital twins of single objects they can really trust. Our collaborative solution comprises a combination of both software and hardware elements. This integrated approach enables our customers to effortlessly develop their individual digital applications, tailored to their unique requirements,” explained Thomas Endress, executive director of EMD Digital at Merck. “By offering a secure and user-friendly platform, our solution ensures seamless interoperability while providing the flexibility and ease of integration that our customers demand.”
Joe Wagner, CEO at p-Chip, added, “We are pleased that the powerful innovations planned through this strategic cooperation are coming to fruition. p-Chip micro-transponders play an integral role in Merck’s robust digital solution. As industries leverage blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve complex challenges, p-Chip's digital twin enabling technology delivers the breakthrough levels of visibility, traceability and security needed for companies to achieve dramatic operational efficiencies and brand security.”
The cyber-physical trust framework solution aims to empower companies to harness the advantages of the IIoT with confidence. It securely anchors physical objects to their digital identities, providing a reliable platform for product authentication and trust. The solution seamlessly integrates into existing workflows and processes. Companies can build their applications on the software foundation which utilizes multiple blockchain layers, crypto anchors, digital certificates and smart contracts. By establishing a “single source of truth”, the cyber-physical trust framework facilitates seamless machine-to-machine communication, empowering ecosystem partners to achieve full traceability and digital trust while retaining control of their data.
Additionally, the p-Chip micro-transponders offer the advantage of usability in challenging environments such as harsh environments that would damage or decompose other taggant solutions. These micro-transponders can be directly applied to products including metal, circumventing issues related to label detachment.
Also, wireless handheld readers have been developed, designed for seamless integration into existing processes via Bluetooth connectivity, enabling portable and hassle-free scanning. The integration of these readers demonstrates that different crypto anchors, with their respective advantages, can be unified on a single technical platform, offering a harmonized user experience. This enables customers to choose a combination of technologies that best suits their products and processes.
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