Liquid scanning system and method for iv drug verification and identification

A method of interrogating a liquid sample contained in a container, comprising:

• providing an input radio frequency (RF) signal at a frequency between 100 MHz and 15 GHz by at least one of:
• one or more transmitting wide band antennas,
• one or more transmitting narrow band antennas,
• a coaxial probe providing the input RF signal,
• a conductive pattern providing the input RF signal, and
• a grid array providing the input RF signal;
• receiving at least one of a reflected RF signal and a coupled RF signal from at least one of:
• one or more receiving wide band antennas,
• one or more receiving narrow band antennas,
• a coaxial probe providing the at least one of the received RF signal,
• a conductive pattern providing the at least one of the received RF signal, and
• a grid array providing the at least one of the received RF signal;
• analyzing the at least one received RF signal in at least one of a frequency domain or time domain for a measurement to which a Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression has been applied, and wherein the measurement of the at least one received RF signal is one of a real value, an imaginary value, a complex value, a magnitude, or a phase;
• comparing the measurement of the at least one received RF signal against one or more baseline measurements in a database;
• and
• identifying the liquid sample or predicting an identity of the liquid sample from the compared measurements.

A method for verifying a drug/solution mixture contained in a liquid-filled container, comprising:

• transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal to interrogate a liquid in the liquid-filled container;
• receiving the transmitted RF signal after the transmitted RF signal interrogates the liquid in the liquid-filled container;
• analyzing the at least one received RF signal in at least one of a frequency domain or time domain for a measurement to which a Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression has been applied, and wherein the measurement of the at least one received RF signal is one of a real value, an imaginary value, a complex value, a magnitude, or a phase;
• identifying a drug/solution mixture of the liquid in the liquid-filled IV bag or syringe, or predicting an identity of a drug/solution mixture of the liquid in the liquid-filled container based on the analysis of the received RF signal compared against baseline RF signals in a database;
• and
• providing an operator the identification of the drug/solution mixture or the prediction of the drug/solution mixture.

An apparatus for identifying the identity of a liquid sample in a container, comprising:

• a radio frequency (RF) signal generator producing an RF frequency between 100 MHz and 15 GHz positioned to interrogate a liquid sample contained in a container;
• a receiver positioned to receive at least one of a reflected RF signal and a coupled RF signal;
• a processor for at least one of the received RF signals, programmed to:
• analyze the at least one received RF signal in at least one of a frequency domain or time domain for a measurement to which a Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression has been applied, and wherein the measurement of the at least one received RF signal is one of a real value, an imaginary value, a complex value, a magnitude, or a phase;
• compare the measurement of the at least one received RF signal against one or more baseline measurements in a database;
• and
• identify the liquid sample or predict the identity of the liquid sample from the compared measurements.