How Does ACO's Solution Work
A Bluetooth device setup mimicking a bracelet is created. The said device will have internal file storage, battery, and an application installed in it. Data retention before overwrite is 40 days. All saved files will be encrypted.
The Bluetooth bracelet will be capable of recording the unique device serial of all other Bluetooth devices within an approximate of 6 feet/2 meters or less (signal strength based). The said device will also record the timestamp of the said detection. The device will scan on a regular defined interval (e.g. 5 seconds, 1 minute, etc).
Prior to issuance of the Bluetooth bracelet, all Unique Bluetooth Serials will be recorded via a Web App wherein the Name, Home Address, derived Longitude and Latitude of the Home Address and Contact Info of the individual who will receive the device will also be recorded via the ACO Web App.
Once an individual with the Bluetooth Bracelet is showing symptoms and was tested to be COVID positive, the file content of the bracelet will be extracted and uploaded to the ACO Web App.
The file will contain all the Unique Bluetooth Serials of all individuals who may have been in contact with the infected individual for the past 40 days.
The corresponding Names and Address of the Bluetooth serials can then be extracted/viewed using the ACO Web App.
The Health Department / Government Task Force can immediately start contact tracing for the identified individuals mentioned above.
The corresponding testing for those individuals can then be pursued.
Once an individual is tested positive, the contents of the individual's bracelet can now also be scanned.
The ACO Web App will have a few key features.
- Map View of all the locations of Confirmed Infections and Probable Infections. Infected individual's Address will be color-coded indicating status(confirmed or probably), degree & duration of interaction with the infected individual, risk of infection(age and other comorbidities) and silent spreaders (Asymptomatic)
- Encoding of existing cases, deaths, recoveries prior to ACO's implementation.
- Expanding information of infected individuals (Age, Existing Illness/Co-Morbidities, Symptomatic or Asymptomatic, etc) which may be epidemiologically significant.
- Predict possible outbreaks by considering the number of infections and population density in a specific location.
- Defined User Roles wherein only selected roles would have access to a different set of data and functions (for Individual Privacy and Access Control)
What makes ACO's Solution unique?
Privacy is protected. Unlike the solution being offered by Android and Apple, the Bluetooth bracelets' implementation that is is OFFLINE and does not track the location ensures individual privacy is protected. Big Brother is not watching.
Inclusivity for all. Not everyone can afford a smartphone. The estimated cost of ACO's Bluetooth Bracelet is only around $20 - $40. All resources used are all open source and non-proprietary.
Extendability. The ACO solution can still be further enhanced by integrating with mobile apps, extend individual COVID data (possible genetic tags as risk marker) for epidemiological studies.
How can an individual, or even a nation of 109 million souls approach the NEW NORMAL? How can Technology help in minimizing the impact of Covid 19 in our lives? These were the questions lingering in or minds for the past several weeks.
In our technology frenzy, we sometimes forget that not everyone has access to a fancy gadget nor to the internet that most have taken for granted. Everyone touts a solution for contact tracing but not everyone thinks how the poor go about their day with as little as 100 pesos ($2) to their name.
Project ACO, one amongst many, will try to find that ONE that may shed light on how COVID 19 spreads regardless of the social standing.
ACO, is the play of the Flipino word “AKO” meaning “I”, making the importance of that individual, not treating a person as a statistic.
ACO (Anti-Covid Offline) is bringing back to the grassroots of sensible technology for all. Anti-Covid, a fight against Covid 19. Offline, why not online? Because not everyone is privileged to have data connectivity and most of them are at the most risk.
Tools and Technology Used
We used NASA WorldWind to render the maps and location info. This provided us with a free and non-proprietary resource. C++ will be used to implement the conditions/logic in the Bluetooth Device. NodeJS will be used for the Web App.
Challenges
The biggest challenge for our team to develop the ACO solution was COVID19 itself. Due to the lockdown, the Bluetooth prototypes were unavailable during the hackathon proper as we were not able to secure the majority of needed materials for the prototype. This complicated things wherein we were not sure if we have any prototype to present at all, whether it was the Bluetooth Bracelet or a fully functioning Web App.
https://www.data.gov.ph - basis of Philippine population and density
https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov - used for parts of the UI and Map display