Feature drop · Atlas OSDE / EN
Where your sample is, and how it is doing
Atlas OS now tracks every sample from the moment it is packed to the moment it is accessioned in the lab — position, custody and cold chain in one view.
Rolling out to all Atlas OS users todayExample shipment, DHL Express, Dortmund to Berlin. Tracking number redacted.
Why
A sample is not a parcel
It is living material, and behind it is a person, an animal or a cell line someone spent years deriving. Parcel tracking asks one question: has it arrived. That is the wrong question. The one that matters is whether the material is still intact when it does.
Dry ice sublimates. A shipment that sits two days in a hub arrives on time and worthless. So the primary axis in Atlas OS is not the map — it is the cooling budget, running down while custody changes hands twice.
Three questions, three sources
sample.identity
Which tube is this, and what does it belong to?
- Source
- Barcode generated in the portal, printed by the customer
- Format
- ATL-9240-0001
- Above 50 samples
- Plate barcode plus well A01–H12
sample.position
Where is it now, and when does it land?
- Source
- Carrier events through one aggregator, carrier-agnostic
- Resolution
- Stations to city level, interpolated in between
- Next stage
- Connected logger reports true position
sample.condition
Did the cold chain hold?
- Source
- Dry-ice mass and pack time, captured by the customer at packing
- Output
- Remaining cooling as a countdown, warning on delay
- Next stage
- NFC label or logger returns the real curve
The cooling budget
Identity travels with the tube
Every sample gets an identifier before it leaves the building. The customer prints the sheet on ordinary paper, sticks one label on each tube and writes their own name for it in the blank field. Both identifiers now live on the same tube.
Nothing ships from Berlin first. That is what makes this work across borders: an order from Trieste or Edinburgh is ready to pack the same day, and traceability starts before the courier is called.
The first label on the sheet is a QR code. Scanned with a phone before the box is sealed — no app, no login — it records dry-ice mass, pack time and a photo, and starts the cooling clock on real values.
Label sheet · 63.5 × 38.1 mm stock, 3 × 7 per A4
How it runs
- Atlas · order pageIdentifiers minted
One per tube. Format
ATL-9240-0001, four digits, unique across the system. - Customer · at the benchSheet printed, tubes labelled
Plain paper works; the hairlines become the cutting guides. One spare label per sample.
- Customer · before sealingPack capture by QR
Dry-ice mass, pack time, photo of the box. The device fix becomes the first position on the trail — the only one accurate to tens of metres.
- CarrierScans flow in
Position and status per event, mapped to one vocabulary regardless of carrier. Notifications fire on meaningful transitions only.
- Lab · goods-inIdentifier scanned
The order opens, the sample is accessioned, the turnaround clock starts. A plate barcode accessions the whole plate at once.
The same six states the customer sees on the order
Status
| Building block | What it delivers | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier tracking | Stations, events, expected arrival | live |
| Route map and timeline | Journey replayable, position interpolated | live |
| Sample identifiers and label sheet | Identity, scan at goods-in | live |
| Pack capture by QR | Verified origin, cooling clock on real values | live |
| State-change notifications | Pickup, delivery, exception | live |
| NFC temperature label | Temperature curve, read on unpacking | next |
| Connected logger | True position and temperature, live | next |