The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent need for ways to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus quickly, accurately and on a massive scale in order to control its spread.Now, scientists from three Swiss institutions have developed a new microfluidic device that can detect SARS-CoV-2 with a high degree of accuracy. The device can distinguish SARS-CoV-2 from other respiratory viruses such as the <a href="http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/middle-east-respiratory-syndrome-coronavirus-(mers-cov)" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus</a> (MERS-CoV), making it a potential game-changer in the fight against coronaviruses. The project was led by Sandrine Gerber-Lemaire at EPFL, Igor Stefanini at SUPSI, and Francesco Bertoni at USI.The device uses a DNA biosensor to detect RNA from SARS-CoV-2 in human saliva. When viral RNA binds to the DNA biosensor, it forms a DNA/RNA duplex. This is then detected by the sensor, which can pick up as little as 10 attomolar of the virus RNA. For perspective, one attomolar is equivalent to a drop of water in an Olympic-size swimming pool.The device is based on microfluidics, a technology that controls the flow of very small amounts of liquids through tiny channels. With microfluidics, the new device controls the flow of saliva to allow the DNA biosensor to detect viral RNA. The DNA/RNA duplex is then detected with fluorescence measurements.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1675687753585-9cdecd18.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">How the new virus-detecting device works. Credit: Sandrine Gerber-Lemaire.&nbsp;The virus detector can be deployed in non-medical environments, and can provide results in less than ten minutes, which makes it superb for point-of-care diagnostics in airports, schools, workplaces etc. And since it is highly selective for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it does not produce false positives for other coronaviruses.The device can play a significant role in population monitoring and mitigation efforts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It can also be adapted to detect other viruses with simple modifications to the sensor&rsquo;s probe. &ldquo;This device is highly versatile,&rdquo; says Sandrine Gerber-Lemaire. &ldquo;The biosensor unit can be easily adapted to the detection of other viruses by the selection and immobilization of other DNA probe sequences.&rdquo;<hr>ReferencesPerrine Robin, Laura Barnabei, Stefano Marocco, Jacopo Pagnoncelli, Daniele Nicolis, Chiara Tarantelli, Agatino Christian Tavilla, Roberto Robortella, Luciano Cascione, Lucas Mayoraz, C&eacute;line M.A. Journot, Mounir Mensi, Francesco Bertoni, Igor Stefanini, Sandrine Gerber-Lemaire. A DNA biosensors-based microfluidic platform for attomolar real-time detection of unamplified SARS-CoV-2 virus. Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X, 27 December 2022. DOI:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590137022001959" rel="noopener" target="_blank">10.1016/j.biosx.2022.100302</a>

The virus-detecting device. Credit: Sandrine Gerber-Lemaire.

A new microfluidic device developed by scientists in Switzerland can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus with high accuracy and speed, using a unique DNA/RNA duplex technology. The device can prove to be a game-changer in the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A microfluidic device for detecting SARS-CoV-2

The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused incredible disruption to our society over the last 2 years, and unfortunately resulted in substantial loss of life. To date there have been 430 million diagnosed cases worldwide, with close to 6 million deaths being reported. 


How Ozone Generation Could Help to Combat the Continued Threat Posed by COVID-19

This article was first published on <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/sensors-face-masks-fit-1020" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>.&nbsp;<hr>Wearing a mask can help prevent the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, but a mask&rsquo;s effectiveness depends on how well it fits.Currently, there are no simple ways to measure the fit of a mask, but a new sensor developed at MIT could make it much easier to ensure a good fit. The sensor, which measures physical contact between the mask and the wearer&rsquo;s face, can be applied to any kind of mask.Using this sensor, the researchers analyzed the fit of surgical masks on male and female subjects, and found that overall, the masks fit women&rsquo;s faces much less closely than they fit men&rsquo;s faces.&nbsp;&ldquo;What we realized by analyzing our collected data from the individuals in the study was that the masks that we use in daily life are not very suitable for female participants,&rdquo; says Canan Dagdeviren, the LG Career Development Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT and the corresponding author of the study.The researchers hope that their sensor will help people to find masks that fit them better, and that designers could use it to create masks that fit a wider variety of face shapes and sizes. The sensor can also be used to monitor vital signs such as breathing rate and temperature, as well as environmental conditions such as humidity.The study is a collaboration between Dagdeviren&rsquo;s lab; Siqi Zheng, the STL Champion Professor of Urban and Real Estate Sustainability in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning; and Tolga Durak, managing director of MIT&rsquo;s Environment, Health, and Safety programs. Jin-Hoon Kim, an MIT postdoc, is the lead author of the paper, which appears today in Nature Electronics.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MGJPALCbrn4?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" style="width: 767px; height: 430px;"></iframe><h2 id="isPasted">Fit quality</h2>The researchers began working on this project before mask-wearing became common during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their original intention was to use sensors embedded in masks to measure the effectiveness of mask-wearing in areas with high levels of air pollution. However, once the pandemic started, they realized that such a sensor could have more widespread applications.With so many different kinds of masks available during the pandemic, the researchers thought this kind of sensor could be useful to help individuals find the best-fitting mask for them. Currently, the only way to measure mask fit is to use a machine called a mask fit tester, which evaluates the mask fit by comparing air particle concentrations inside and outside of the face mask. However, this type of machine is only available in specialized facilities such as hospitals, which use them to evaluate mask fit for health care workers.The MIT team wanted to create a more user-friendly, portable device to measure mask fit. Dagdeviren&rsquo;s lab, the Conformable Decoders group, specializes in developing flexible, stretchable electronics that can be <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2020/sensor-als-communicate-1022" target="_blank">worn on the skin</a> or <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2020/sensors-monitor-vital-signs-0423" target="_blank">incorporated into textiles</a> to detect signals from the body.&ldquo;In this project, we wanted to monitor both biological and environmental conditions simultaneously, such as breathing pattern, skin temperature, human activities, temperature and humidity inside the face mask, and the position of the mask, including whether people are wearing it properly or not,&rdquo; Kim says. &ldquo;We also wanted to check the fit quality.&rdquo;To integrate their sensors into face masks, the researchers created a device that they call a conformable multimodal sensor face mask (cMaSK). Sensors that measure a variety of parameters are embedded in a flexible polymer frame that can be reversibly attached to the inside of any mask, around the edges.To measure fit, the cMaSK has 17 sensors around the edge of the mask that measure capacitance, which can be used to determine whether the mask is touching the skin at each of those locations.The cMaSK interface also has sensors that measure temperature, humidity, and air pressure, which can detect activities such as speaking and coughing. An accelerometer within the device can reveal if the wearer is moving around. All of the sensors are embedded into a biocompatible polymer called polyimide, which is used in medical implants such as stents.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1666349992901-ezgif-5-fd07098556.gif" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The conformable electronics are laminated and delaminated on a surgical mask.&nbsp;The researchers tested the cMaSK interface in a group of five men and five women. All of the subjects wore surgical masks, and the researchers monitored the readings from the sensors as the participants performed a variety of activities, such as speaking, walking, and running. They also tested the sensors in a variety of temperature conditions.Using data obtained by the capacitance sensors, the researchers created a machine-learning algorithm to calculate mask fit quality for each subject in the study. These measurements revealed that mask fit was significantly worse for women than men, due to differences in face shape and size. However, the fit for women could be improved slightly by wearing smaller surgical masks. The researchers also found that mask fit quality was low for one of the male subjects who had a beard, which created gaps between the mask and the skin.To verify their results, the researchers also collaborated with MIT&rsquo;s Environment, Health, and Safety Office on the design and evaluation of the fit, and found that the fit results for each study participant were very similar to what they found using the cMaSK.<h2>Customized fit</h2>The researchers hope that their findings will encourage mask manufacturers to design masks that fit a variety of face shapes and sizes, especially women&rsquo;s faces. Dagdeviren&rsquo;s lab is planning to work on mass production and large-scale deployment of the cMaSK interface.&ldquo;We hope to think about ways to design masks and come up with the best fit for individuals,&rdquo; Dagdeviren says. &ldquo;We have different sizes for shoes, and you can even customize your shoes. So why can&rsquo;t you customize and design your mask, for your own health and for societal benefit?&rdquo;The researchers also hope to return to their original idea of studying the effects of air pollution on people who work outside.&ldquo;Our technology can really help to quantify the social costs of these environmental hazards, and also to measure the benefits of any kind of policy intervention,&rdquo; Zheng says.<hr>&quot;Reprinted with permission of&nbsp;<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/sensors-face-masks-fit-1020" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>&quot;&nbsp;

A new sensor developed at MIT could make it much easier to ensure a good face mask fit. The sensor, which measures physical contact between the mask and the wearer’s face, can be applied to any kind of mask. Image: Courtesy of the researchers

The system measures biological and environmental changes, and detects contact between the mask and the wearer’s skin.

Engineers develop sensors for face masks that help gauge fit

This article was first published on <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/wireless-electronic-lateral-flow-assay-test-for-biosensing-0824" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>. &nbsp;<hr>Lateral flow assays (LFA) tests have become ubiquitous within the general public; they are the format for standard home pregnancy and Covid-19 tests, indicating a positive result with a colored line, and a negative result with no colored line. In their current iteration, these tests are largely qualitative and binary in their outputs.Various attempts to make a quantitative LFA have yielded complications due to the optical basis of a quantitative test &mdash; scattered stray light and faint images. Since Covid has catapulted LFAs into the daily lives of many, the impact of these tests will be even greater if they can be made intrinsically quantitative for the monitoring of key biomarkers associated with disease progression, medical treatments, and basic health monitoring.In a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.2c06579" target="_blank">paper published Aug. 17 in the&nbsp;Journal of the American Chemical Society</a>, members of the lab of Professor&nbsp;<a href="https://chemistry.mit.edu/profile/timothy-manning-swager/" target="_blank">Tim&nbsp;Swager</a>, led by postdoc&nbsp;<a href="https://swagergroup.mit.edu/jie-li" target="_blank">Jie Li</a> and graduate student&nbsp;<a href="https://swagergroup.mit.edu/weize-yuan" target="_blank">Weize Yuan</a>, reveal the design for a new generation of LFA that uses conductivity (or resistivity) changes in an electronic polymer to create the response.Electrical resistance (or conductance) is universal in electronic devices. It can be readily measured with great accuracy, and prior research has shown that the group&rsquo;s electronic LFAs have both intrinsic quantitative capabilities and ultra-high sensitivity. The approach of the MIT team generates base signals in which the resistance can change by 700,000 percent, and with these strong signals, can detect trace quantities of a target biomarker. The electronic-LFA uses a biological trigger employing the well-known enzyme glucose oxidase. It was shown to be able to monitor glucose, but this LFA is far more than a glucose meter.This study shows that this technology can be applied to quantitatively detect target proteins by using antibodies designed to bind to them. In a preliminary demonstration of this feature, the researchers found that they were able to quantitatively detect the inflammation biomarker, the C-Reactive Protein, at physiological levels. This biomarker has elevated levels when a patient has an immune response to disease or a medical treatment. This can be extended readily with&nbsp;many other biomarkers, and there are plans in place to use it for detecting environmental toxins (metals and chemicals) in water.When this electronic LFA is integrated into a resonant radio frequency circuit, users can power and read the device with a conventional smartphone. As a result, the passive LFA-RFID devices can be used at home without a specialized reader. With this in mind, electronic LFA has enormous potential in home health care diagnostics and environmental monitoring.<hr>&quot;Reprinted with permission of&nbsp;<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2022/wireless-electronic-lateral-flow-assay-test-for-biosensing-0824" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MIT News</a>&quot;&nbsp;

In this lateral flow assay, the paper that wicks the solution (left) has control and test lines that can be wired in parallel with the integrated circuit of an RFID device for wireless detection by a smartphone. Image courtesy of the researchers.

Design from the Swager Lab uses electronic polymers, rather than colored lines, to indicate a positive response, enabling quantitative monitoring of biomarkers.

Chemists develop a wireless electronic lateral flow assay test for biosensing

This is the first article of a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/building-electronic-products-with-resilience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">6-part series</a>&nbsp;looking at innovation in the electronics industry.&nbsp;Technology companies are caught between two extremes.&nbsp;On one side is almost limitless innovation, with technological breakthroughs revolutionising entire industries. But on the other is a global supply chain under unprecedented pressure.&nbsp;<style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style>Enabling continued innovation while dealing with the constraints of supply chain uncertainty will be one of the most challenging tasks for the industry in the coming years, and being able to design &lsquo;around&rsquo; these constraints will be key. &nbsp;<h2>Era of innovation</h2>From edge computing to artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and all the tech which combines to form industry 4.0 - we live in an era of innovation like no other. The speed and scale of that innovation have only been amplified by the pandemic. Covid provided fresh impetus to innovation for two reasons.&nbsp;Firstly, science has been seen to be humanity&rsquo;s principal weapon against the virus, while the need for rapid progress in finding treatments and vaccines led to barriers in cooperation being broken down. This resulted in a new age of global cooperation between academic institutions, governments, and companies to find solutions to problems &ndash; and find them fast.&nbsp;As the pandemic unfolded, many companies were also forced to undertake a period of technological innovation in order to survive. Being able to let staff work from home, as well as devising new ways to deal directly with customers, helped boost a fresh reliance on, and appetite for, technology. According to research by Mckinsey, companies&rsquo; overall adoption of digital technologies sped up by three to seven years in just a matter of months. [1]In the aftermath of the pandemic as countries slowly reopened, the need to innovate has not been lost &ndash; with many governments making technological advancements a cornerstone of their economic recovery plans. In the UK, the British government recently announced [2] a new &pound;39.8 billion R&amp;D budget from 20022-25, the country&rsquo;s largest-ever &ndash; which it plans to distribute with partner organisations.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyNzg5OTA0LXZlbnRpYWxvdC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The Covid-19 pandemic spurred innovations such as low-cost ventilators. Image credit: &nbsp;Nicola Pitaro/ETH Zurich.<h2>Supply chain challenges</h2>Despite the growing appetite for innovation and technology to fuel the development of new products, industry faces huge challenges due to unprecedented pressures on the global supply chain.&nbsp;The seeds of the crisis were sown even before Covid. China had established itself as a manufacturing giant, producing many of the components used by industry in bulk and at affordable rates.But power and labour shortages, coupled with tariffs imposed by the former US administration, impacted China&rsquo;s ability to build and export those components and the rates it previously had. Gartner&rsquo;s 2020 survey[3]&nbsp;of 260 supply chain leaders revealed 33% had moved sourcing and manufacturing activities out of China or planned to do so in the next two to three years.<h3>Covid demand rebounds&nbsp;</h3>Covid and its resulting fallout had a double impact on supply chains. Lockdowns caused disruption to manufacturing itself. For example, the Chinese Port of Ningbo - the world&rsquo;s third busiest - was shut down last August due to a single case of COVID-19. The second way it impacted supply chains was by temporarily reducing consumer demand while countries were in lockdown. When those lockdowns lifted, consumer demand rebounded and supply chains could not cope.<h3>Impact of Brexit&nbsp;</h3>The United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, the European Union, have also had to contend with the impact of Brexit on supply chains. This has resulted in additional tariffs and delays at ports. The UK Office for National Statistics[4] found that 5% of companies in the UK had changed their supply chains due to Brexit.&nbsp;<h3>War in Ukraine&nbsp;</h3>The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has also had an impact on supply chains. A report by <a href="https://www.dnb.co.uk/perspectives/russia-ukraine-impacts-global-supply-chain.html" target="_blank">Dun &amp; Bradstreet</a> showed that more than 600,000 companies around the world rely on Ukrainian and Russian suppliers. Both countries are also big sources of neon and hexafluorobutadiene gases which are essential for the manufacture of semiconductor chips.<h2>Design constraints</h2>Designing within constraints is not a new challenge for industries. Even before the current supply chain crisis hit, innovators had to contend with a multitude of other issues.&nbsp;These could include budget, staffing, available tools, time and other factors such as trends in wider society, the views of the consumer and public, as well as government legislation. In order to deal with these constraints, tech companies had to do what they do best - innovate.&nbsp;By designing and constructing components and products that make allowances for constraints, they are able to build resilience into their products. The challenge posed by supply chain issues is no different. Perhaps the greatest design constraint in the world today - the ability to source products at quantity and in an acceptable timeframe - means manufacturers must factors this into how they design and produce their products.&nbsp;<h3>Solutions</h3>In order to tackle the supply chain crisis head one while still continuing to innovate, electronic product OEMs must be able to design within the current supply chain constraints.&nbsp;There are number of ways they can do this. These include:<ul><li>Work with what is available. It may sound obvious, but companies can adapt their designs to make use of the components which are readily available. Even if adapting those designs requires short-term costs, it will be beneficial in the longer term.&nbsp;</li><li>Auxiliary components. Products can be designed with auxiliary microcarrier cards. Although this can impact on cost, it can be beneficial if the original components are not available.&nbsp;</li><li>Creating a dual footprint design.PCBs can be created which accommodate multiple footprints. This may require some flexibility in terms of how firmware is added but can provide additional supply chain resilience.&nbsp;</li><li>Substituting secondary components. Products can be designed so parts such as memory chips can be replaced with substitutes. The adaptability of drivers will be a factor here. &nbsp;</li><li>Understand the supply chain limitations. Parts may take time to produce and deliver under the current circumstances, so engaging a supply network that is reliable and can quantify what it is able to deliver &ndash; and when &ndash; is vital.</li></ul>To enable all of this, innovators must find reliable suppliers which have extensive details on stock and are able to provide visibility of supply issues in the short and medium-term. This enables OEMs to know with near certainty that they can source the components they need. If they are unable to source those components, they are at least able to make quick decisions about alternative designs and pivot if necessary.&nbsp;Being able to understand which components are available and how this impacts manufacturing times will be crucial for companies that hope to stay one step ahead.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyNDYxMTcyLXNodXR0ZXJzdG9ja18xOTE4ODU0ODMzLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">To design with resistance, OEMs to know with near certainty that they can source the components.&nbsp;<h2>Innovation in uncertain times</h2>We live in uncertain times, but uncertainty has never been barrier to innovation. Indeed, many of history&rsquo;s greatest innovations have come about during hard times, embodying the phrase &lsquo;necessity is the mother of invention&rsquo;.That being said, in order for companies to compete they have to have as much certainty as possible in their supply chain and production lifecycles if they are not only to remain competitive but outshine the competition.Being able to innovate in a world where this is increasingly important, while also tackling unknowns such as the supply chain crisis, will require companies to adapt.&nbsp;Firstly, they will have to design &lsquo;around&rsquo; the constraints of supply chain problems by developing products with components that can be more easily sourced, or which can be replaced with alternatives if the need arises.To do this successfully, they will need suppliers that can provide reliable information on things such as component details, quantities, and delivery times. By doing so, they can continue to innovate regardless of ongoing supply chain problems. &nbsp;<h2>Building for Resilience with OKdo</h2>Suppliers such as British-based <a href="https://www.okdo.com/industrial/?utm_source=Wevolver&utm_campaign=prospecting&utm_medium=display&utm_content=thoughtleadership_b2b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">OKdo</a> can support engineers to make the kind of smart, data-based design decisions that enable them to focus on innovation in the face of these supply chain challenges. Okdo assists engineers by delivering a unique combination of software, development support, and manufacturing services. they work with partnerships large and small to make the best products available. OKdo goes beyond just supply and assisting innovators through support and expertise in part selection, prototyping, customization, and large-scale manufacturing. Learn more about how they can help you to build IoT products with resilience at <a href="https://www.okdo.com/industrial/?utm_source=Wevolver&utm_campaign=prospecting&utm_medium=display&utm_content=thoughtleadership_b2b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">their site.</a>This is the third article of a 6-part series:<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/building-electronic-products-with-resilience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Article 1</a> looked at supply chain resilience.<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/the-future-of-sustainable-electronics" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Article 2</a> examined the future of sustainable electronics.<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/bringing-the-smart-home-to-the-smart-office-how-engineers-can-empower-users-with-iot-enabled-products-in-the-workplace" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Article 3</a> surveys current smart office trends.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyOTc5OTAwLW9rIGRvIGJvdHRvbSBiYW5uZXIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2>References</h2><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
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</style>1. The new digital edge: Rethinking strategy for the postpandemic era:<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-new-digital-edge-rethinking-strategy-for-the-postpandemic-era"></a> <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-new-digital-edge-rethinking-strategy-for-the-postpandemic-era" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-new-digital-edge-rethinking-strategy-for-the-postpandemic-era</a>&nbsp;2. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-plans-for-largest-ever-rd-budget" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-plans-for-largest-ever-rd-budget</a>3. <a data-remove-tab-index="true" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-24-gartner-survey-reveals-33-percent-of-supply-chain-leaders-moved-business-out-of-china-or-plan-to-by-2023" href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-24-gartner-survey-reveals-33-percent-of-supply-chain-leaders-moved-business-out-of-china-or-plan-to-by-2023" rel="noopener noreferrer" tabindex="-1" target="_blank">https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-24-gartner-survey-reveals[&hellip;]-chain-leaders-moved-business-out-of-china-or-plan-to-by-2023</a>4. Early insights into the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and EU exit on business supply chains in the UK: February 2021 to February 2022: <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/articles/earlyinsightsintotheimpactsofthecoronaviruspandemicandeuexitonbusinesssupplychainsintheuk/february2021tofebruary2022" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/articles/earlyinsightsintotheimpactsofthecoronaviruspandemicandeuexitonbusinesssupplychainsintheuk/february2021tofebruary2022</a>

Article #1 Electronics Innovation Series. Enabling continued innovation while dealing with the constraints of supply chain uncertainty is a task for both designers and suppliers. 

Building Electronic Products with Resilience

Wireless technology commercialized to fight COVID-19 is adapted to improve safety and productivity as employees return to work.Wireless proximity monitoring proved to be a crucial tool in containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the dark days before vaccines.&nbsp;At the pandemic outbreak, clever engineers realized that the Bluetooth tech built into smartphones formed a ready-made infrastructure for contact tracing.The solution wasn&#39;t perfect. People needed Bluetooth-equipped handsets with the right app for the system to work, but its implementation was a stroke of genius and certainly saved thousands of lives. Later came purpose-designed Bluetooth LE wearables and tags to detect nearby wireless devices and record interactions to help contact-trace during COVID-19 outbreaks.As the disease has become endemic, proximity monitoring will continue to be vital. Better still, we have a proven technology with supporting infrastructure on our hands that can use for many other people-tracking and asset-monitoring applications. Examples include tracking workplace health and safety procedures, reducing the risk of workplace accidents, and improving business efficiency and productivity.<h2>The unexpected benefits of pandemic technology</h2>These are just the obvious applications. There are numerous other possibilities. Existing technology could stretch to emergency management, attendance tracking, and automated timekeeping.Industries as diverse as manufacturing, food processing, education, the military, and even film production could benefit from technology that accurately tracks the interaction of groups of people and provides insights into their behavior.There were some solutions to these problems before COVID-19, but they were served by unwieldy, clunky, and often proprietary technologies. The virus provided the encouragement to explore a better way of doing things.Part of the answer was to adopt proven and open wireless technologies to solve problems &ndash; demonstrating once again how the flexibility of wireless connectivity and its large vendor ecosystem allows application to almost any engineering challenge.<h2>Wireless technology is changing people&rsquo;s behavior</h2>Not just has the technology. People&rsquo;s attitudes have changed too. Humans are more aware of their interpersonal relations, avoiding potential risks of sickness or infection from other illnesses, such as the common cold or influenza (&ldquo;flu&rdquo;).One consequence of this new behavior is a dramatic decline in flu infections. In Australia, the Immunisation Coalition reported over 313,000 cases in 2019. That number dropped to 21,356 in 2020. By the end of October 2021 (well past the peak for the traditional Southern Hemisphere flu season), recorded cases were only 584.Moreover, there is evidence that people&#39;s privacy concerns soften with assurances that any information collected is for the common good, anonymized, and deleted when no longer needed. There is a lesson here for all vendors asking for personal data.<h2>Getting back to work with wireless technology</h2>Commercial examples of proximity monitoring are appearing as people return to offices, factories, and building sites; Finland-based Wirepas, a Nordic customer, has introduced &lsquo;digital&rsquo; helmets which enable workers to dispense with the morning attendance meetings. The helmets can also ensure compliance with safety guidelines and help managers remotely monitor the progress of building projects.Companies are also using technology to ensure that employees returning to the office have a more pleasant experience. <a href="https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/smart-offices-get-smarter-with-rise-of-hybrid-work" target="_blank">The Business Times reports</a> that in Schneider Electric&#39;s offices in Kallang, Singapore, more than a thousand sensors across nine floors track the occupancy of workstations to help the company adapt lighting and HVAC according to attendance.<h2>Extending proximity monitoring</h2>Moreover, smart buildings that monitor air quality and adjust ventilation to suit are increasingly common. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21528171/" target="_blank">A 2011 Danish study</a> reported that people working in conventional open plan premises take 62 percent more sick leave than those working in an enclosed workspace. Keeping the air fresher and cleaner will help reduce that figure in the future.Contact tracing remains important, especially in areas of the world where vaccination rates remain low. Several companies, for example, <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2020/08/CareBands-SafeTrack-employs-nRF52832?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CareBand</a>, have made contact tracing more widely available to those without smartphones through low-cost Bluetooth LE wearables.Driving the technology will be the new applications of proximity monitoring. Now that engineers have got their hands on this fledgling technology, they will come up with thousands of applications that we can&#39;t even begin to guess at.<hr>This article was first published on Nordic&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" id="isPasted"></a><a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>. &nbsp;

Wireless technology commercialized to fight COVID-19 is adapted to improve safety and productivity as employees return to work.

Pandemic wireless technology dividend improves working conditions

We have already covered a detailed article on <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/smart-face-mask-platform-in-response-to-covid-19-pandemic" target="_blank">the smart face mask platform</a> integrating software and hardware to offer a user-friendly platform– that displays physiological signals [1]. With Covid-19 rising in several countries, face masks have become a part of day-to-day life– prolonged use of these face masks has adverse effects, primarily caused due to CO2 rebreathing. There have been reports concluding a significant drop in blood oxygen saturation and increase in heart and respiratory rate due to the increased CO2 concentration in the dead space volume (DSV). DSV is defined as the volume of ventilated air in which there is no significant gas exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.&nbsp;The established mechanism to monitor the concentration or partial pressure of carbon dioxide in respiratory gases– capnography and other portable hardware to measure the gas inside the mask DSV have created complex issues for the required components and its bulky structure. Even though the proposed solutions are reliable with high resolution and accuracy, they are limited to laboratory experiments due to their size and power requirements. To solve the challenges in the space of wearability and conformability, utilizing the recent technological advancements and exploiting the developed research reports, a team of researchers, affiliated with the University of Granada, Spain, have proposed a system with wearable hardware that interacts with the custom smartphone application via a near-field communication link (NFC) [2].<h2 dir="ltr">NFC tag for Wireless CO2&nbsp;readout</h2>In the paper, “Smart facemask for wireless CO2 monitoring” the team has developed a system that consists of an opto-chemical sensor combined with a battery-free NFC tag with a resolution of 103 ppm for measuring the gas concentration in the DSV of the facemask. The sensor circuitry is fabricated in a tiny 60x45 mm2 sized polymeric substrate with the NFC link generated for the interaction with the custom-developed software application. The smartphone application is responsible for data processing, alert management, result displaying and sharing purposes. “Through performance tests during daily activity and exercise monitoring, we demonstrate its utility for non-invasive, wearable health assessment and its potential applicability for preclinical research and diagnostics,” the team explains in the research article.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ1MzM2MjExNDIyLUNpcmN1aXQgYmxvY2sgZGlhZ3JhbSBvZiB0aGUgTkZDIHRhZy5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Circuit block diagram of the NFC tag">Circuit block diagram of the NFC tag [Image Credit: Research Paper]<div style='pointer-events: none; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; z-index: auto; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 477.5px; height: 39px; width: 766px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: 100%; font-size: 14px; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; text-align: center; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; tab-size: 8;'> </div>While designing the portable hardware, the general design criteria were based on the IoT design flow– sensing, connectivity, compactness, integration, scalability, low-power consumption and affordability. Keeping all this into consideration, the proposed system with an NFC tag printed on a transparent flexible substrate is fixed on the inner part of the FFP2-type facemask. The goal is to read out the CO2 concentration through the deposited chemical sensor with the fluorescent response of which results will be wirelessly transferred onto the software applications. Based on stable inorganic phosphor, the opto-chemical CO2 sensor is the most essential hardware component in the whole hardware circuitry. Being an NFC-based system, the monitoring is completely passive with no requirement of battery– whereas the power supply is obtained from the near electromagnetic field induced by the external NFC reader (in this case the smartphone).&nbsp;In the process for CO2 monitoring, the NFC tag has an attached ultraviolet light-emitting diode, which when powered on, the sensing substrate is active. The luminescence intensity is measured to determine the CO2 concentration through the red coordinate of the RGB color space. The incoming luminescence intensity is collected by the digital color detector then sent to the microcontroller unit. The final results will be sent to the mobile application for further processing.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Did performance prove its utility?</h2>For evaluation purposes, the smart facemask was tested on short-term and long-term usage in static conditions. For the initial test case, the CO2 concentration was monitored every 30 seconds through the proposed smart face mask as well as a reference instrument such as MultiRAE Lite, RAE Systems. By comparing the results, the curves show to be in good agreement with close results. In the early stage of the monitoring, the face smart curve is slightly in a delayed fashion in comparison to the reference standard– this is because of the time required to fill the mask’s DSV. Three apnoeas can be seen when the holding of breath during the test was performed to see the varying results and accuracy.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ1MzM2NDI0MDA0LVNtYXJ0IGZhY2VtYXNrIHBlcmZvcm1hbmNlLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Smart Face Mask Performance">Smart Face Mask Performance: Short Term (left) and Long Term (right) [Image Credit: Research Paper]<div style='pointer-events: none; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; z-index: auto; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 286.5px; height: 39px; width: 766px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: 100%; font-size: 14px; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; text-align: center; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; tab-size: 8;'> </div>For the long-term test, the face mask was worn for over 2.5 hours and the measurements were taken every 15 minutes. The monitoring is performed with temperature values into consideration to check the stability of the opto-chemical sensor. Two apnoeas at the stamp time of 80 and 110 minutes show a sharp drop in CO2 concentration. Overall, the CO2 accumulation for common conditions ranged from 1.5% to up to 3.5% which is well beyond the atmospheric air of approximately 0.04%. “Our results are in line with the reviewed literature, with CO2 values around 2% during low work-rate activities and peak values up to ~5% during high-intensity exercise,” the team notes.&nbsp;In summary, the developed platform for CO2 monitoring with batteryless hardware structure enabling NFC-based wireless communication and scalable hardware fitted inside the FFP2 face mask makes the system versatile and robust for real-life deployment. For future work, the researchers expect to combine several optical chemical sensors that can be integrated into a single flexible passive NFC tag to monitor several gases' concentrations.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">References</h2>[1] Alexander Curtiss, Blaine Rothrock, Abu Bakar, Nivedita Arora, Jason Huang, Zachary Englhardt, Aaron-Patrick Empedrado, Chixiang Wang, Saad Ahmed, Yang Zhang, Nabil Alshurafa, and Josiah Hester. 2022. FaceBit: Smart Face Masks Platform. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol. 5, 4, Article 151 (Dec 2021), 44 pages. DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3494991" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1145/3494991</a>[2] P. Escobedo, M. D. Fernández-Ramos, N. López-Ruiz, O. Moyano-Rodríguez, A. Martínez-Olmos, I. M. Pérez de Vargas-Sansalvador, M. A. Carvajal, L. F. Capitán-Vallvey, and A. J. Palma. Smart facemask for wireless CO2 monitoring. Nature Communication 13, Article 72 (Jan 2022). DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27733-3" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27733-3</a>&nbsp;

Smart Face Mask for CO2 monitoring through an opto-chemical sensor; results displayed on Smartphone application

A system with an opto-chemical sensor combined with a battery-free NFC tag of resolution 103 ppm for measuring the CO2 gas concentration in the dead space volume of the facemask

Wearable and Intelligent Face Mask for CO2 monitoring

The next time you need to provide a sample swab, for COVID-19 diagnosis or any other reason, you might not be doing so face-to-face with a staff member but with an autonomous robot, designed with a soft-robotics force-sensing sample probe which will keep you comfortable even as it protects front-line staff from potential exposure to infectious agents.Combining a nine-degrees-of-freedom (9DoF) rigid-flexible coupling (RFC) robot with a depth-sensing visual system linked to a machine learning system which can guide the swab directly to where it’s required without human intervention — and without causing discomfort to the patient.<h1>Risk reduction</h1>Robotics are already used for COVID-19 testing purposes: Cornell University’s COVID-19 Testing Laboratory (CCTL) was put together in less than two months for rapid testing of students, staff, and faculty, and <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/robots-know-how-drive-covid-labs-massive-testing-effort" target="_blank">uses a robot for automated transfer of sample liquid into pools for processing</a>. Artificial intelligence, too, has been put to work during the pandemic for tasks ranging from <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/rensselaer-developed-algorithm-accurately-predicts-covid-19-patient-outcomes" target="_blank">predicting patient outcomes</a> to <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/students-use-ai-for-a-better-covid-19-prediction-model" target="_blank">accurately mapping its spread</a> and even <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/ai-now-sees-and-hears-covid-in-your-lungs" target="_blank">diagnosing infections from lung imagery and breath sounds</a>.The platform developed by first author Yingbai Hu and colleagues, however, is directly designed to reduce first-line medical staff exposure to potentially infected individuals — entirely replacing the manual face-to-face sample swabbing process without the drop in sample quality associated with allowing untrained individuals to self-swab.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1645110153190-opswab2.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="An artist's impression of an autonomous OP-swab sampling robot. The power part of the image calls out individual components: a UR5 robot arm, a custom manipulator, a depth camera and endoscope, and a straing gauge connected to a Wheatstone bridge.">By taking over sampling from human staff, this robot could help reduce the spread of diseases like COVID-19. “Robot-assisted OP-swab [oropharyngeal-swab] sampling is a promising technique,” the researchers explain, “because it relieves the burden from medical staff, is convenient for large-scale deployment, is cost-effective, and offers sampling standardization.”The biggest issue with swapping trained staff out for autonomous robots, and the primary reason previous efforts have focused on teleoperation, is the potential for damage: The human throat is made up of soft tissue and can be easily damaged, as anyone who has sung along too loud at a concert and regretted it the next morning will attest. A rigid robotic probe, then, is ill-suited to the task and could potentially do more harm than good.The team’s answer: A novel micro-pneumatic actuator (MPA) with an integrated force sensor, designed to be lighter, smaller, softer, and safer than rival rigid designs. The robot’s second-to-last link, meanwhile, is designed to remain solely within the oral cavity center constraint, meaning no unexpected collisions with the patient’s oral cavity should be able to occur.<h1>Soft sample-taking</h1>The robot itself is built from a Universal Robots UR5 robotic manipulator arm, to which the soft-robotic manipulator is attached — itself made up from a linear motor prismatic joint, a servo motor revolute joint, and the novel MPA which can inflate and deflate 11 individual air chambers to bend on-demand.To ensure sterility between patients, the MPA is built to be disposable: Once a sample is taken and the patient has left, a staff member is able to quickly disconnect the MPA and dispose of it with medical waste; a custom quick-connect system is claimed to speed the swap-out task.The vision system, designed so that teleoperators are not required and the sample-taking robot can operate entirely independently, uses imagery from an Intel RealSense depth-sensing camera and a two-dimensional endoscope which feed into a machine learning system trained using the Mask R-CNN convolutional neural network. These data are fed into an online motion planning system based on a varying-parameter zeroing neural network (VP-ZNN) to provide the robot with planned trajectories, with feedback from the integrated force sensors provided during sampling.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1645110173220-opswab4.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Photos of the robot sampling system in action, taking a sample from a model during the initial testing prior to human trials.">Testing showed that the robot could complete sample collection in under 20 seconds, with high accuracy. In testing, the vision system demonstrated a 95 per cent recognition success rate and a sampling time of under 20 seconds — further proven during trials on both mouth models known as “oral cavity phantoms” and 29 human volunteers.The team has indicated that its future work will focus on improving the robustness of the system, and move forward with larger-scale clinical testing — though, at the time of writing, no timescale for the latter was provided.The researchers’ work has been published under open-access terms in the journal <cite><a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9363527" target="_blank">IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters</a>.</cite><h1>Reference</h1>Yingbai Hu Jian Li, Yongquan Chen Qiwen Wang, Chuliang Chi, Heng Zhang Qing Gao Yuanmin Lan, Zheng Li Zonggao Mu Zhenglong Sun, and Alois Knoll: <cite>Design and Control of a Highly Redundant Rigid-flexible Coupling Robot to Assist the COVID-19 Oropharyngeal-Swab Sampling, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 2</cite>. DOI <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2021.3062336" target="_blank">10.1109/LRA.2021.3062336</a>.

Designed with safety systems to protect the user, this soft-robotic sampler could replace human staff at testing centers.

Designed to address the risk to front-line staff from COVID-19, this autonomous swab-sampling robot is designed to take the human element out of sample gathering.

Soft-robotic sampling robot could help keep front-line staff free from infection

Mutations in the virus have given birth to multiple research streams for the treatment of viral infection. COVID-19 caused because of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has changed the daily routine of human life– making it more conscious to protect itself from the global pandemic. Most of the day-to-day safety protocols in place are in the form of passive devices; limit the scope of improvement and cannot alert the user for potential risk. Wearing masks has been the most used protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus infection– but lacks the technology to signal the user for mask degradation of improper fit. The innovation towards building smart devices that are scalable, lightweight and energy-efficient has been on the rise after realizing the need for active devices.In the space of the maker community, there have been efforts in designing hardware platforms that can extract physiological signals from facial sensing points. Smart glasses [2] for measuring the heart rate to smart filter [3] for PPE to monitor the air filter quality in the detection of COVID-19 have played a significant role in wearable physiological sensing. Most of these solutions lacked scalability and on-device computing capabilities– in response to the COVID-19 spread. All these resource-constrained computing platforms and software/hardware ecosystem helped the researchers to develop an efficient and user-friendly smart device.A team of researchers from Northwestern University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Los Angeles have proposed an open-source hardware platform for smart face mask applications. The increasing new highs of COVID-19 positive cases due to new infectious variants, and analyzing the slow global vaccination rate along– make this smart hardware platform a way to keep monitoring health parameters. Thanks to edge computing and AI inference advancements, the smart face masks platform creates a new research area for developing sustainable and convenient forms of health management, even for the COVID-19 pandemic.<h2 dir="ltr">What is FaceBit?&nbsp;</h2>In the paper, “FaceBit: Smart Face Masks Platform”, the team proposes the design of a hardware and software ecosystem consisting of FaceBit circuit board along with a custom-built mobile application that can provide data collection, visualization and alert. Along with alertness, the hardware interacts with physiological changes– monitoring heart rate (through FaceBeat algorithm) without skin contact via ballistocardiography and respiration rate through temperature changes. Additionally, the hardware also checks the mask fitting and wear time from pressure signals; leveraging the always on-device with an energy-efficient system. All the data collected from the onboard sensors are wirelessly transmitted to the custom phone application for analysis.&nbsp;Scaling such a product involves several factors that are to be considered– FaceBit aims to be low cost, energy-efficient and easy-to-integrate hardware with rich sensing functionalities. The hardware offers harvesting energy from breathing, motion and sunlight to supplement the tiny primary cell battery that alone delivers a battery lifetime of 11 days or more. With the help of a small magnet, the tiny form factor device fits on top of your existing masks without any modification. &nbsp;Moreover, the inclusion of a flexible interface has made it more convenient for the users to monitor the health parameters and keep track of the COVID-19 infection risk.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ0MzExMDA5ODg2LU92ZXJ2aWV3IG9mIEZhY2VCaXQucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Overview of Facebit Smart Face Mask Platform">Overview of Facebit Smart Face Mask Platform [Image Credit: Research Paper]<div style='pointer-events: none; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; z-index: auto; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 253.1px; height: 39px; width: 766px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: 100%; font-size: 14px; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; text-align: center; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; tab-size: 8;'> </div>The FaceBit block diagram shows the essential parts that make up the whole ecosystem consisting of three energy sources– solar, thermal and battery, while three wireless sensors (temperature sensor, IMU and pressure sensor) for monitoring physiological signals. All the incoming data from the remote sensors is then digitally processed and categorized under respiratory rate, heart rate and mask fitting. Wirelessly sent to user-controlled mobile applications to complete the design flow of the hardware/software smart mask platform.On the other side of the hardware platform is the FaceBit Companion application for phones and desktops that interacts with the FaceBit circuit board via Bluetooth Low Energy using a custom GATT profile. Built on iOS and macOS using Swift Programming Language, the user interface is written within the SwiftUI framework and uses Mac Catalyst that supports iOS applications deployed on macOS. “The application handles both high-frequency time-series data streams for debugging, as well as low frequency computed metrics from the sensor board for actual deployment,” the researchers explain. “The vision is that a user will be able to customize the home screen with desired widgets to receive timely information on the signals of interest.”<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ0MzExMTIwNTM0LUZhY2VCaXQgUGhvbmUgQXBwbGljYXRpb24ucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="FaceBit Phone Application">FaceBit Phone Application [Image Credit: Research Paper]<div style='pointer-events: none; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 2px; z-index: auto; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 467.15px; height: 39px; width: 766px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: 100%; font-size: 14px; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; text-align: center; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; tab-size: 8;'> </div>For future studies, the developers aim to optimize the signal pipeline to tune the FaceBeat algorithm to reduce the number of falsely detected heart rates. A battery-free system is something that can improve the sustainability of the device by integrating low-power modules like Ambiq Apollo3. As an open-source contribution, the innovators encourage the community to modify the hardware and software to bring more functionalities– available at <a href="https://facebit.health/" target="_blank">facebit.health</a>.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Reference</h2>[1] Alexander Curtiss, Blaine Rothrock, Abu Bakar, Nivedita Arora, Jason Huang, Zachary Englhardt, Aaron-Patrick Empedrado, Chixiang Wang, Saad Ahmed, Yang Zhang, Nabil Alshurafa, and Josiah Hester. 2022. FaceBit: Smart Face Masks Platform. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol. 5, 4, Article 151 (Dec 2021), 44 pages. DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3494991" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1145/3494991</a>[2] Hernandez, Javier et al. "Wearable Motion-Based Heart Rate at Rest: A Workplace Evaluation." IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics 23, 5 (September 2019): 1920 - 1927[3] Lut, J.-J. &amp; Goddijn, M. Smart Personal Protective Equipment: Sensing and Control: The Future of Face Masks (Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2020).