EmbedTek, an iOT company, says it has developed a peer-to-peer social distancing and contact tracking device.
The device, called PariRangeT, can be used by businesses to support the health and safety of its workforce without the concern for breach of privacy.
EmbedTek will be demonstrating PariRange to interested parties soon and will move into production in Q3 this year. The technology also can be an embedded design to fit ergonomically into protective equipment or work accessories such as a face shield, hardhat, ID badge, and wrist band. A provisional patent detailing the invention was submitted this week.
PariRange collects and communicates data in a peer-to-peer fashion between each contact tracking device. It has been engineered to overcome barriers other contact tracking methods have encountered, the company says.
The product uses uses peer-to-peer communication methodology that does not require a network such as WiFi or cellular. It does not track an employee’s location, movements, or productivity throughout the day. It only tracks when one device comes into a set distance range of another device.
It does not require any type of infrastructure in order to collect and recall information. So it can be used in work environments where there is no central WiFi network, such as construction.
Time-of-flight technology is used to accurately estimate distance between two people within inches and does not rely on the signal strength of radio frequency, which is said to be an improvement over Bluetooth alternatives.
“Businesses with large numbers of employees working in close contact with each other are in a difficult position,” said Dan Aicher, CEO of EmbedTek. “For food processors and manufacturers, for example, initial infections that were not contained have spread throughout facilities, endangering employees and shutting down essential portions of the supply chain. It is critical that these facilities are able to open safely and respond quickly and effectively to future Covid-19 cases that occur within their work community.”
Source: EmbedTek
