IoT Methods for Determining PPE Mask Fitness

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic showed the importance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which has been instrumental in providing efficient and effective protection against exposure to the virus for its users. The widespread use of face masks has highlighted the shortcomings of single-use PPE, in particular, the fit of a mask has a large impact on its effectiveness. The research presented in this paper focuses on automatically determining the fitness of masks on an individual with any face structure. The approach in this paper is to use IoT sensors attached to PPE masks in order to detect the tightness and fit of the mask. This approach was tested using three different types of commercially available masks and showed that it is feasible to detect their tightness and fit of them. This study concludes that IoT-based methods can be used effectively to improve the safety of PPE masks. © 2022 IEEE.