Digital Cont
Digital contact tracing is a framework that allows smartphones running
the same contact tracing app to register close connections with other devices. To
establish contact between an infected patient and a user, mobile devices are fre-
quently used. Since the COVID-19 virus pandemic began, several businesses have
concentrated on developing unconventional processes that enable extensive digital
contact tracking. Both the Google and Apple contact tracking applications primar-
ily utilise bluetooth. Two phones can exchange anonymous ID codes by connect-
ing over bluetooth. The software determines how far and how long you have been
away from another device using a variety of parameters. If a person tests positive
for COVID, they are asked if they want to inform the others to whom they were
exposed while using the app. To determine if you were within 6 feet of an infected
individual, the phone later utilises a number of codes on a central server. If so, the
app also offers details on the necessary safety measures.
Applications for contact tracing may be broadly divided into two categories. In
centralised contact-tracing, mobile devices transmit their anonymous IDs to a
server that manages a database, and the server utilises this information to carry
out contact-tracing, risk assessments, and alert notifications to the users. On the
other hand, with decentralised contact-tracing, mobile devices handle contact
matching and alerting in place of a centralised server by downloading the contact
database from the server. In decentralised contact-tracing, each user’s smart-
phone serves as a local server that only transmits data about infected people to the
centralised server. The smartphones then periodically download this data from
the server and perform contact matching locally. The Apple-Google platform is
an illustration of this decentralised contact-tracing architecture. A decentralised
application is far more private and secure for users to use because no one’s data is
shared.
Digital contact tracing is done using various methods and all have their draw-
backs. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is used to track encounters between two
phones, transmit anonymous, time-shifting identifiers to nearby devices, and
commit these identifiers to a locally stored contact history log. It is perceived to
have less privacy problems and lower battery usage than GPS-based schemes, but
has potential inaccuracy due to line-of-sight, advertising channels, device place-
ments, and WiFi interference. Secondly, Location tracking can be achieved via
tact Tracing
cell phone tower networks or using GPS, but accuracy is not sufficient for meaningful contact
tracing. Smartphone GPS logging solutions are more private, but Bluetooth-based solutions
can be spied on. QR-code visitor check-in systems have been used in Malaysia, Australia, and
New Zealand to centralise contact tracing and detect possible encounters between positive
COVID-19 cases and others who visited the venue at the same time. Other than Ultrasound
and facial recognition have also been used to make these apps function.
The majority of these applications have several flaws and restrictions. The apps become less
useful on older devices and the full potential of digital contact tracing systems might not be
realised in developing and less developed nations. Privacy is one of these apps’ main problems.
In order to protect ethics, privacy, and equality, location-based data monitoring should not be
used in digital contact tracing and should be avoided altogether. Furthermore, proximity sens-
ing via bluetooth is unreliable and might provide a false sense of security, which undermines
confidence in local government and healthcare.
The NHS Covid-9 app in the United Kingdom and Arogya Setu in India are two of the most
well-known digital contact tracking applications. Making these applications more effective
is something that humanity has been working hard on. Digital contact tracing may be done
using cutting-edge sensing, AI, computer vision, and machine intelligence (MI) technologies.
AI can analyse illnesses, CV can identify and categorise items, and non-contact remote sensing
technology can find COVID-19.
The Ultrasonic Positioning System (UPS) is a centimetre-accurate indoor communication de-
vice. Visible Sensors (VLC) offer reliability, security, and privacy. In both indoor and outdoor
settings, social separation may be observed using thermal-based location (IRPs and TICs).
These technologies could be ground-breaking for contact-tracing, which is expected to have a
lot more use cases in the future.
