Monitoring of the medication distribution and the refrigeration temperature in a pharmacy based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology

For the past 15 years since its appearance, Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been leading the planet towards a smart world where all devices and physical objects, referred to as "things", will be connected via electronic sensors through the Internet. The distribution of medication to patients at a pharmacy in certain regions is still very traditional and outdated. Patients wait for a long time in queues to receive their medications, this is mostly due to the absence of an efficient distribution system. Also, the refrigeration temperature within several pharmacies is a huge problem, as medications must be kept at a constant temperature for an optimal results. In this paper we propose a simple and reliable approach to monitor a pharmacy store, the method is based on electronic sensors connected to an Intel Galileo board, to perform a medication search and also to control the refrigeration temperature within pharmacy shelves. The implementation cost of such systems is considerably cheaper than a software based system; this makes such systems appropriate for underprivileged areas. This system was designed and built for a pharmacy but it can be generalized for other purposes.