ABSTRACT
An automated temperature scanner with contact-tracing capability had previously been developed to screen temperature related diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola or Lassa fever and trace possible infected persons. The device uses a non-contact temperature sensor (MLX-90614) to acquire human temperature while the user's identity is obtained by means of Radio Frequency Identification card. This information is sent for storage in remote database and made available for possible contact-tracing via a secured web interface. Due to the fact that several studies contest the validity of non-contact temperature sensors as replacement for contact ones, the present study therefore compares performance of its non-contact temperature sensor with that of the mercury-in-glass thermometer considered as a standard in this study. This is in an attempt to validate performance of the developed automated temperature scanner and to optimize its usage. Investigations reveal that the developed device performs best when user is within a 16 cm distance from the temperature sensor. Any measurement done outside this 16 cm critical distance might not be valid. Other investigations reveal that the developed device with non-contact temperature sensor is faster than the contact thermometer with an average response time of 0.004 second compared with mercury-in-glass of 179.2 seconds. So non-contact sensor would be very useful when speed is of essence but it was found to exhibit a lower precision compared to the contact thermometer. The critical temperature obtained in this study will guide users in the usage and researchers in further studies on the developed automated temperature scanner with contact-tracing capability. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
An automated temperature scanner with contact tracing capability within an organisation such as a University campus, government ministry and so on is described herein. The system is developed to assist in response to government's efforts at curtailing the spread of the novel COVID-19 pandemic and other high temperature-related diseases such as Ebola and Lassa fever. The device when installed in a premise does an automated temperature screening using its non-contact temperature sensors. It grants access only to users with temperature within the normal body temperature range (35.5 o C to 38 o C) and denies access to users whose temperatures are higher than the normal temperature. It performs authentication through which it acquires user's identity details such as name, sex, and address through its sensors and sends them with the acquired temperature to a remote database where the data so acquired can be further analysed. This data is useful for contact tracing, monitoring speed of diseases and for the purpose of planning/prevention of future occurrence. The developed device is incorporated with solar power which makes it usable in places with inadequate or without grid power. Being an automatic device, it functions without a human operator compared to hand-held infrared thermometer which can only be used when the screening officials are on ground. Possible application areas include University premises, schools, corporate organisations and public places such as shopping malls, hospitals to mention but a few. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.