RFID Journal on Microshare’s Universal Contact Tracing solution
JULY 28 – Internet of Things (IoT) technology company Kerlink has released a new Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and LoRaWAN anchor and bracelet technology that can locate people for the purposes of social distancing and contact tracing for the industrial, manufacturing, healthcare and mining industries. The technology includes software and integration supplied by IoT data-management firm Microshare, which is selling the system worldwide. It has been deployed by several global pharmaceutical companies and by the Singapore government, and it is also in use at Kerlink’s own office in France.
The solution is designed for companies at which workers or residents do not typically carry smartphones. While the technology captures data about the location and proximity of people at a facility, it keeps that information private unless an individual tests positive for COVID-19, at which time it can provide contact information for the prior 14 days, along with location data if beacons have been deployed.
The solution, known as Universal Contract Tracing, consists of BLE beaconing bracelets worn by workers, beacons that can be deployed around an office, and the Wanesy Wave anchor to capture the BLE data. The system forwards the collected data to a Wanesy iFemtoCell-evolution gateway via a LoRaWAN connection, which in turn forwards the data to a server via cellular connectivity.
With the solution in place, authorized managers at a company can identify anyone with whom a worker has been in contact for a span of 14 days, in the event that the employee indicates he or she has tested positive for COVID-19. If a positive case is confirmed, the company can identify where the bracelet has been, based on fixed beacons at specific locations, so that extra cleaning can be provided.
With the technology, Microshare and Kerlink explain, companies can provide a safer work environment for employees by ensuring that anyone at risk of having the coronavirus will be quickly identified before that person can infect others. Potential users of the technology include factories, warehouses, construction sites, mining installations, oil and gas facilities, prisons, schools, hospitals and elder-care facilities, says Charles Paumelle, Microshare’s chief product officer. The company is now in discussions with customers in North America, Europe and Asia.
Kerlink released the Wanesy Wave system in April as an indoor anchor that employed both Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN tracking technologies. It was designed at the end of last year, however, for a different use case than contact tracing, says Stephane Dejean, Kerlink’s CMO—namely, to track the movements of consumers through a retail space. Companies can deploy the anchor in stores, for instance, and they can detect and locate smartphones and other Wi-Fi devices as consumers move around a space. Once a Wi-Fi transmission is detected, the anchor transmits the data to an industrial-grade LoRaWAN gateway via a LoRaWAN link.
The solution was initially designed for use in enabling retail shops, commercial malls or museums to count visitors, trace their movements and retrieve their customer journeys in stores and other buildings. That information can help businesses understand how long individuals spend at different areas, such as in front of a store’s product displays or a museum’s paintings. The system can also be used at factories, warehouses and hospitals to allow the real-time location of devices, Dejean says, by tracking asset use over a period of time, or by providing instant inventory data regarding tools or equipment within a given area.
In addition, Dejean says, technology could link data to direct marketing and prompt specific offers to be pushed to smartphones for retailers. The company has provided the solution to such companies as Metro, Shell and Volkswagen for use in tracking traffic at their stores. “This was the starting point for the product,” he states, before COVID-19 spread worldwide. With the pandemic’s outbreak, Dejean recalls, “We said ‘We have this product, and we understood there would be challenges for tracing workers at offices.'” Therefore, the company decided to offer a solution dedicated to safe workspaces.
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