A Novel Approach on Covid-19 Contact Tracing – Utilization of Low Calibrated Transmission Power & Signal Captures in BLE

Thein Oak Kyaw Zaw, Saravanan Muthaiyah, Kalaiarasi Sonai Muthu Anbananthen, Min Thu Soe

Abstract


Covid-19 pandemic has compelled countries to conduct contact tracing vigorously in order to curb the highly infectious virus from further spread. In this context, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has been broadly used, utilizing Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) for Close Contact Identification (CCI). However, many of the available solutions are not able to adhere to the guidelines provided by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention which are: (1) Distance requirement of within 6-feet (~2 meters) and (2) Minimum 15-minutes duration for CCI. In providing some closure to the gap, we proposed a novel approach of utilizing: (1) Low calibrated transmission power (Tx) and (2) Number of signal captures. Our proposed approach is to lowly calibrate Tx so that when distance is at 2 meters between users, number signal capture gets lower as the chipset’s smallest RSSI sensitivity value has been reached. In this paper, complete experimentation for Proof of Concept (POC) and Pilot test conducted are demonstrated. Results obtained shows that the accuracy for POC utilizing signal captures for 2 0.3 m distance is at: (1) 71.43% for 5 users and (2) 70.69% for 9 users. While so, accuracy for the Pilot test when considering CCI on individual case-basis is at 95% for 5 users.

 

Doi: 10.28991/esj-2022-SPER-013

Full Text: PDF


Keywords


Bluetooth Low Energy; Contact Tracing; Covid-19; Transmission Power; Signal Capture.

References


World Health Organization. (2020). Pneumonia of unknown cause – China. COVID-19 – China, WHO. Available online: https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2020-DON229 (accessed on April 2022).

Velavan, T. P., & Meyer, C. G. (2020). The COVID-19 epidemic. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 25(3), 278–280. doi:10.1111/tmi.13383.

Mbunge, E. (2020). Integrating emerging technologies into COVID-19 contact tracing: Opportunities, challenges and pitfalls. Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 14(6), 1631–1636. doi:10.1016/j.dsx.2020.08.029.

Wei, W. E., Li, Z., Chiew, C. J., Yong, S. E., Toh, M. P., & Lee, V. J. (2020). Presymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 — Singapore, January 23–March 16, 2020. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(14), 411–415. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6914e1.

Viner, R., Russell, S., Croker, H., Packer, J., Ward, J., Stansfield, C., Mytton, O., & Booy, R. (2020). School Closure and Management Practices During Coronavirus Outbreaks Including COVID-19: A Rapid Narrative Systematic Review. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3556648.

Wei, J., Guo, S., Long, E., Zhang, L., Shu, B., & Guo, L. (2021). Why does the spread of COVID-19 vary greatly in different countries? Revealing the efficacy of face masks in epidemic prevention. Epidemiology and Infection, 149. doi:10.1017/S0950268821000108.

CDC. (2022). Contact Tracing for COVID-19. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Avail;able online: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracing/contact-tracing-plan/contact-tracing.html (accessed on March 2022).

O’Neill, P. H. (2020). Bluetooth contact tracing needs bigger, better data. MIT Technology Review. Available online: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/22/1000353/bluetooth-contact-tracing-needs-bigger-better-data/ (accessed on May 2022).

Zhao, Q., Wen, H., Lin, Z., Xuan, D., & Shroff, N. (2020). On the accuracy of measured proximity of bluetooth-based contact tracing apps. In Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, LNICST (Vol. 335, pp. 49–60). doi:10.1007/978-3-030-63086-7_4.

MySejahtera. (2020). Soalan Lazim MySejahtera FAQ. Kerajaan Malaysia. Semua Hakcipta Terpelihara Government of Malaysia. Available online: https://mysejahtera.malaysia.gov.my/faq/ (accessed on January 2022). (In Malay).

Columbian National Institute of Health. (2020). CORONAPP, Colombia. Available online: https://coronaviruscolombia.gov.co/Covid19/aislamiento-saludable/coronapp.html (accessed on January 2022). (In Spanish).

National Informatics Centre. (2020). Government of India. Aarogya Setu. Available online: https://www.aarogyasetu.gov.in (accessed on March 2022).

Cathie. (2021). How many devices can be paired to a computer Bluetooth? Nstec.com. Available online: https://www.nstec.com/how-many-devices-can-be-paired-to-a-computer-bluetooth/ (accessed on January 2022).

Bisdikian, C. (2001). An overview of the Bluetooth wireless technology. IEEE Communications Magazine, 39(12), 86–94. doi:10.1109/35.968817.

Heurtefeux, K., & Valois, F. (2012). Is RSSI a Good Choice for Localization in Wireless Sensor Network? 2012 IEEE 26th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications. doi:10.1109/aina.2012.19.

Du, J., Yuan, C., Yue, M., & Ma, T. (2022). A Novel Localization Algorithm Based on RSSI and Multilateration for Indoor Environments. Electronics (Switzerland), 11(2), 289. doi:10.3390/electronics11020289.

Giovanelli, D., & Farella, E. (2018). Rssi or time-of-flight for bluetooth low energy based localization? an experimental evaluation. In September 2018 11th IFIP wireless and mobile networking conference (WMNC), 1-8. IEEE. doi:10.23919/WMNC.2018.8480847.

Nordic Semiconductor. (2018). Versatile Bluetooth 5.3 SoC supporting Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth mesh and NFC. nRF52832. Available online: https://www.nordicsemi.com/products/nrf52832 (accessed on April 2022).

Anglemyer, A., Moore, T. H., Parker, L., Chambers, T., Grady, A., Chiu, K., Parry, M., Wilczynska, M., Flemyng, E., & Bero, L. (2020). Digital contact tracing technologies in epidemics: a rapid review. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020(8). doi:10.1002/14651858.cd013699.


Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.28991/esj-2022-SPER-013

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Thein Oak Kyaw Zaw, Saravanan Muthaiyah, Kalaiarasi Sonai Muthu Anbananten, Min Thu Soe