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 student article proposes rapid protocols for clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 through the automatic analysis of hematological parameters using Evolutionary Computing and Machine Learning. These hematological parameters are obtained from blood tests common in clinical practice.

Rapid protocols to support Covid-19 clinical diagnosis based on hematological parameters

<p><em>This is the first article of a&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/building-electronic-products-with-resilience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>6-part series</em></a><em>&nbsp;looking at innovation in the electronics industry.&nbsp;</em></p><p id="isPasted">Technology companies are caught between two extremes.&nbsp;</p><p>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;</p><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Carlito; color: #244084} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 2.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; min-height: 14.0px} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000} p.p6 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000} p.p7 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; min-height: 14.0px} p.p8 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color: #000000} li.li3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #0b4cb4} span.s2 {font: 12.0px Helvetica} span.s3 {font: 12.0px Arial; color: #393939; background-color: #fafafa} ul.ul1 {list-style-type: disc}
</style><p>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;</p><h2>Era of innovation</h2><p>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;</p><p>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;</p><p>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. <sup>[1]</sup></p><p>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 <sup>[2]</sup> 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;</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyNzg5OTA0LXZlbnRpYWxvdC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">The Covid-19 pandemic spurred innovations such as low-cost ventilators. Image credit: &nbsp;Nicola Pitaro/ETH Zurich.</span></span></span></p><h2>Supply chain challenges</h2><p>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;</p><p>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.</p><p>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<sup>[3]&nbsp;</sup>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.</p><h3>Covid demand rebounds&nbsp;</h3><p>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.</p><h3>Impact of Brexit&nbsp;</h3><p>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<sup>[4]</sup> found that 5% of companies in the UK had changed their supply chains due to Brexit.&nbsp;</p><h3>War in Ukraine&nbsp;</h3><p>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.</p><h2>Design constraints</h2><p>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;</p><p>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;</p><p>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;</p><h3>Solutions</h3><p>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;</p><p>There are number of ways they can do this. These include:</p><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><p>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;</p><p>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;</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 768px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyNDYxMTcyLXNodXR0ZXJzdG9ja18xOTE4ODU0ODMzLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">To design with resistance, OEMs to know with near certainty that they can source the components.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><h2>Innovation in uncertain times</h2><p>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;.</p><p>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.</p><p>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;</p><p>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.</p><p>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;</p><h2>Building for Resilience with OKdo</h2><p>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></p><p id="isPasted">This is the third article of a 6-part series:</p><p><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.</p><p><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.</p><p><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.</p><p><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjUzOTAyOTc5OTAwLW9rIGRvIGJvdHRvbSBiYW5uZXIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><h2><strong>References</strong></h2><style type="text/css" id="isPasted">
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; color: #000000}
</style><p>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><br><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;</p><p>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></p><p>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></p><p>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:<br><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></p>

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

<p id="isPasted">Wireless technology commercialized to fight COVID-19 is adapted to improve safety and productivity as employees return to work.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><h2><strong>The unexpected benefits of pandemic technology</strong></h2><p>These are just the obvious applications. There are numerous other possibilities. Existing technology could stretch to emergency management, attendance tracking, and automated timekeeping.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><h2><strong>Wireless technology is changing people&rsquo;s behavior</strong></h2><p>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;).</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><h2><strong>Getting back to work with wireless technology</strong></h2><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><h2><strong>Extending proximity monitoring</strong></h2><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><hr><p>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;</p>

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

<p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">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;</p><p dir="ltr">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].</p><h2 dir="ltr">NFC tag for Wireless CO2&nbsp;readout</h2><p dir="ltr">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.</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 766px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ1MzM2MjExNDIyLUNpcmN1aXQgYmxvY2sgZGlhZ3JhbSBvZiB0aGUgTkZDIHRhZy5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Circuit block diagram of the NFC tag"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">Circuit block diagram of the NFC tag [Image Credit: Research Paper]</span></span></span></p><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;'><br></div><p>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;</p><p dir="ltr">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;</p><h2 dir="ltr">Did performance prove its utility?</h2><p dir="ltr">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.</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 766px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ1MzM2NDI0MDA0LVNtYXJ0IGZhY2VtYXNrIHBlcmZvcm1hbmNlLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Smart Face Mask Performance"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">Smart Face Mask Performance: Short Term (left) and Long Term (right) [Image Credit: Research Paper]</span></span></span></p><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;'><br></div><p>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;</p><p dir="ltr">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;</p><h2 dir="ltr">References</h2><p dir="ltr">[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></p><p dir="ltr">[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;</p>

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

<p id="isPasted">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.</p><p>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.</p><h1>Risk reduction</h1><p>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 uses a robot for automated transfer of sample liquid into pools for processing. Artificial intelligence, too, has been put to work during the pandemic for tasks ranging from predicting patient outcomes to accurately mapping its spread and even diagnosing infections from lung imagery and breath sounds.</p><p>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.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 300px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ1MTEwMTUzMTkwLW9wc3dhYjIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" 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."><span class="fr-inner">By taking over sampling from human staff, this robot could help reduce the spread of diseases like COVID-19.<br></span></span></span></p><p>“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.”</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><h1>Soft sample-taking</h1><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 300px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ1MTEwMTczMjIwLW9wc3dhYjQuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" 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."><span class="fr-inner">Testing showed that the robot could complete sample collection in under 20 seconds, with high accuracy.<br></span></span></span></p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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></p><h1>Reference</h1><p>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>.</p>

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

<p dir="ltr" id="isPasted">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.</p><p dir="ltr">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.</p><p dir="ltr">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.</p><h2 dir="ltr">What is FaceBit?&nbsp;</h2><p dir="ltr">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;</p><p dir="ltr">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.</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 766px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ0MzExMDA5ODg2LU92ZXJ2aWV3IG9mIEZhY2VCaXQucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Overview of Facebit Smart Face Mask Platform"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">Overview of Facebit Smart Face Mask Platform [Image Credit: Research Paper]</span></span></span></p><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;'><br></div><p>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.</p><p dir="ltr">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.”</p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 766px;"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ0MzExMTIwNTM0LUZhY2VCaXQgUGhvbmUgQXBwbGljYXRpb24ucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="FaceBit Phone Application"><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false">FaceBit Phone Application [Image Credit: Research Paper]</span></span></span></p><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;'><br></div><p>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;</p><h2 dir="ltr">Reference</h2><p dir="ltr">[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></p><p dir="ltr">[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</p><p dir="ltr">[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).</p>

FaceBit aims to be low-cost, energy-efficient, and easy-to-integrate hardware with rich sensing functionalities– monitors physiological signals

Smart Face Mask Platform in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

<p id="isPasted">With vaccination numbers increasing and the pandemic starting to decline, wireless contact tracing looks to adapt to new applications.</p><p>Despite good progress in fighting the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the pandemic will be with us for a long time yet, and contact tracing using Bluetooth LE will remain a vital weapon.</p><p>At its most fundamental, contact tracing works by providing the population with wireless wearables capable of detecting and recording the proximity of similar wearables. As a result, if an infection breaks out, there is a clear record of those who were in close contact during the infectious period. This can limit any further spread and allow those infected with the virus to self-isolate, ideally before becoming infectious to others.</p><h2>Contact tracing remains vital for fighting the virus</h2><p>For example, Oslo-based company, Forkbeard Technologies, has just developed <a href="https://www.nordicsemi.com/News/2021/03/Forkbeard-Technologies-uses-nRF52811-and-nRF52832?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EY’s Proximity Monitor</a> – a Bluetooth LE wearable tag aimed at automating contact tracing at specific events. It can be worn as a wristband, on a lanyard, or downloaded as an app. The tag provides proximity data for use in both person-to-person and person-to-location interactions.</p><p>Due to the low power consumption of the Nordic nRF52811 SoC, a coin cell battery can power the tag for up to three months. In addition, the data can be sent to an Internet dashboard (through a smartphone app or Nordic-powered gateway) for analysis and to classify the distance between individuals as low, medium, or high risk.</p><h2>With us for the long haul</h2><p>According to the Harvard medical school, contact tracing measures are likely to be in place for years to come. That view is endorsed by London-based American infectious disease epidemiologist and public health expert Dr. David Heymann. He predicts that we must expect some restrictions to continue when the pandemic damps down, and we learn to live with the virus and combat smaller, residual outbreaks. It seems wireless contact tracing will remain a highly effective weapon against COVID-19, alongside vaccination and isolation.</p><p>An example that points to this future is New York-based Omni-ID’s Sense Shield which uses Nordic technology together with Finland-based Quuppa’s Intelligent Location System and fellow Finnish company Wirepas’ mesh technology. Sense Shield is a contact tracing device used as a vital part of a U.K. government-endorsed trial examining possible ways for spectators to return safely to sports venues after the pandemic. The trial took place at The Kia Oval—a large and world-renowned cricket ground in London—and included 2,000 spectators.</p><p>Contact tracing technology will also remain ready to be deployed against future viruses. According to scientists Gibb, Redding, Chin, and others, the next zoonotic virus could appear soon. In an article published in Nature, they point out that urban development and the subsequent habitat destruction heightens the risk of viral outbreaks moving from animals to humans. Using contact tracing, we could limit the spread of the virus right at the start of a pandemic, dramatically curbing the number of infections.</p><h2>The technology beyond infection control</h2><p>After a pandemic, however, the now proven technology of contact tracing has many other possible uses. For example, ensuring employee safety, time-keeping, and monitoring attendance or occupancy levels. Wirepas, for example, has introduced a Nordic-based system integrated into hard hats to track an employee's location and record any impacts upon the helmet while on site. The hard hats connect wirelessly via a mesh network using nodes across the worksite, with data then forwarded to the Cloud.</p><p>As well as protecting the safety of the employees, the WakeCap Analysis Platform (available as a website or smartphone app) provides the management a tool to compare timing and staffing constraints with the intended project plan timeline to maximize productivity.</p><p>Another example of contact tracing beyond the pandemic is Tag360-ID, from Bengaluru, India-based TagBox. The product can certainly operate as a pandemic contact tracing device. Still, TagBox sees the Tag360-ID’s future as a “wearable identification card” for real-time location tracking of on-site personnel such as employees, facility visitors, or contract staff. The company says the device will prove particularly useful for ensuring the safety of staff entering and working in indoor and outdoor hazardous environments and restricted zones.</p><h2>The privacy question</h2><p>One of the significant concerns with data-gathering technology is that personal information may be used for other purposes without the user's consent.</p><p>However, most contact tracing product manufacturers understand the need for privacy and keep most of the data anonymous wherever possible. Besides, using Nordic technology, end-product suppliers can make sure the link between transmitter and receiver is secure. All of Nordic’s nRF53 and nRF52 Series SoCs include AES encryption, and the higher-end devices – such as the nRF5340 and nRF52840 – feature on-chip Arm CryptoCell cryptographic security modules.</p><p>In addition, since COVID-19 changed everything, there is evidence that people might be prepared to give up some privacy to protect themselves and others. “If the payoff is large enough, people will trade some loss of privacy for greater freedom from lockdown and better safety at work [through contact tracing], ” says Jakub Krzych of Estimote, a Bluetooth location services company.</p><p>It seems that whatever its final guise, contact tracing is here to stay, and Nordic’s technology makes it all possible.</p><hr><p>This article was first published on Nordic'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>. </p>

With vaccination numbers increasing and the pandemic starting to decline, wireless contact tracing looks to adapt to new applications.

Wireless contact tracing highly relevant in a post-COVID-19 world

<p>By the end of 2020, the U.S. had performed over 250 million tests for COVID-19 (according to analyst Statista), yet transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus that causes COVID-19) has still continued to surge. Experts anticipate the U.S. alone would require anywhere between 4 million and 20 million COVID-19 tests per day to bring the pandemic under control. Currently, daily testing rates do not come close to these targets.</p><p>The wide availability of COVID-19 tests that yield accurate, rapid results would provide a much-needed boost to detecting infectious people before they're able to spread the virus among their community. But providing regular access to such tests on the massive scale required is easier said than done; nonetheless, this must be a goal for governments and health authorities around the world.</p><h2>Self-testing solutions</h2><p>One solution to the current distribution, access, and efficiency challenges could be found in self-testing kits sold over pharmacy counters. The idea behind self-testing is that people pick up a rapid antigen test for COVID-19 from their local drugstore—ideally without needing a prescription—then test themselves and process the results comfortably and safely at home.</p><p>Rapid antigen testing can be used to slow the transmission of the virus and work towards the so-called herd immunity threshold. Even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized a COVID-19 vaccine already, at-home tests could still prove invaluable as a fast and convenient alternative to off-putting medical appointments and public testing sites. Home tests can also help reduce the burden on diagnostic laboratories.</p><p>There could be wider benefits too. For example, Australia's Qantas Airways, among other airlines, has announced that passengers will require a COVID-19 vaccine to board international flights. Still, the airline and competitors might also be open to allowing flight access if non-vaccinated travelers can provide evidence of a negative home-test result. Moreover, as governments force international travelers to show proof of a negative test for the virus, rapid self-testing methods could shorten the queues of passengers waiting to enter a country.</p><h2>FDA-authorized home test</h2><p>Rapid home-based antigen testing could extend access to testing and help identify COVID-19 hotspots sooner. Ellume Health, a Valencia, CA and Brisbane, Australia-based digital diagnostic company, has released the FDA-authorized 'Ellume COVID-19 Home Test', a safe and simple-to-use self-test allowing individuals to check for active COVID-19 infection in 15 minutes or less.</p><p>After using the Ellume test, patients presenting a positive result can self-isolate for the recommended period ahead of a safe return to workplaces, educational institutions, travel, and group activities in general.</p><p>The Ellume solution is an antigen test that detects viral proteins and has demonstrated 96 percent accuracy than an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) molecular test in an independently-run, U.S. clinical study in five states. Notably, the Ellume test is authorized for testing anyone from the age of two, with or without symptoms, to identify COVID-19 cases that might otherwise go undetected. The makers thus claim it's the most versatile rapid antigen test currently available.</p><h2>Nordic-enabled connectivity</h2><p>The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test represents a working example of advanced digital diagnostics combined with IoT connectivity to fight a global pandemic's severe impacts. Using ultra-sensitive optics, electronics, and proprietary software, the test can analyze a nasal swab to test for SARS-CoV-2.</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1611502382350-5fdbf5e64fd7d.hires.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p>Within 15 minutes, the result can then be transmitted from the test unit to the&nbsp;user's smartphone via Nordic-powered Bluetooth LE connectivity. An associated smartphone app relays the information through a secure Cloud connection for sharing with healthcare professionals and others. Such real-time reporting of test results to health authorities, employers, and educators helps with COVID-19 hotspot mapping and rapid reaction to outbreaks.</p><p>In addition to the wireless connectivity, the nRF52810 powers the home test's diagnostic software. The ultra low power SoC also extends the battery-powered home test's shelf life and ensures instant operation when the test is needed.</p><h2>Manufacturing to meet demand</h2><p>COVID-19 testing needs to multiply to bring the pandemic under control. Ellume has increased the size of its Australian manufacturing facility and is rapidly expanding its manufacturing efforts and supply chain in the U.S. with the aid of a US$30 million award from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative.</p><p>The company plans to ship over 100,000 tests per day from January 2021. The goal is to deliver 20 million Ellume COVID-19 Home Tests to the U.S. within the first half of 2021. This still falls short of what is required for a return to normality. But by bolstering testing efforts, the home test offers hope for a future where coronavirus is contained, the vulnerable are protected, and life as we knew it is once again possible.</p><hr><p>This article was first published on Nordic's&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://blog.nordicsemi.com/getconnected?utm_campaign=2021%20wevolver" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Connected Blog</a>. </p>

Advanced digital diagnostics combined with IoT connectivity comes in handy when fighting a global pandemic's severe impacts.

Digital diagnostics and IoT connectivity a potential COVID-19 game-changer

<section><h2>The Business</h2><p>Alicat Scientific is a pioneer in the manufacturing of mass flow meters, mass flow controllers, and pressure controllers, for gases and liquids. Alicat is part of Halma, a global group of life-saving technology companies.</p><h2>Task</h2><p>Tending a Takisawa LA 250 YS Lathe</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1606321122678-shutterstock-video.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><h2>The Challenge</h2><p>Alicat Scientific sought an automation solution that would allow them to meet their steadily growing demand. Despite increasing their workforce, they’d hit a wall in overall throughput. With cycle times exceeding 45 minutes, machining components on their lathe had become a chokepoint for the rest of their operations. In order to meet demand, they needed to be able to run overnight, when skilled labor is most difficult to come by.</p><p>Although they were already looking to automate, COVID-19 related demand increased the urgency at which they needed a solution in production. They couldn’t afford to wait for weeks or months to get a solution designed. And they also couldn’t risk implementing a solution they would be unable to manage in-house and risk downtime. Alicat also needed a solution that could be implemented rapidly by their own people to limit exposure.</p></section><section><blockquote>From unboxing to training and setup, this was one of the easiest operations I’ve ever experienced in the world of machining. More than that, our machinists actually found it fun!</blockquote></section><section><blockquote>Greg Camron, Machine Shop ManagerAlicat Scientific</blockquote></section><section><p>The Solution</p><p>After extensive research into the available options, including industrial and collaborative robot manufacturers and custom integrators, Alicat Scientific selected a Forge-powered automation solution from READY. Rapid deployment and ease-of-use were critical decision factors for them. It was also important that their chosen solution was one that they could maintain and troubleshoot themselves - in order to minimize downtime and dependency on third-parties.</p><p>The solution consists of a complete hardware package, including robot arm, shipped to Alicat in a crate. What differentiates the READY solution is that everything from the robot arm to the pneumatics is controlled by Forge/OS and programmed with READY’s Task Canvas visual programming application. Alicat got an automation solution they could quickly program and easily maintain with their existing team. Although their machinists hadn't previously programmed an industrial robot, they were able to program their lathe automation task without so much as a training class. In addition, they were able to uncrate and fully deploy their automation task in just three days - with no outside support.</p></section><section><blockquote>This (automation bundle from READY) solved a critical chokepoint in our ventilator component manufacturing, allowing us to meet COVID-19-related demand that would have been impossible before.</blockquote></section><section><blockquote>Greg Camron, Machine Shop ManagerAlicat Scientific</blockquote></section><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1606321341018-alicat-2-image-collage.png" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><h2>The Results</h2><p>Alicat Scientific received, trained, programmed, deployed, and achieved full ROI in 30 days. Within 8 hours they were comfortable programming automation with Task Canvas. Within three days they had their lathe fully automated. After 10 days they were running lights out. Within 30 days their READY automated solution had already paid for itself.</p><p>Automating with READY allowed Alicat to boost output by 74% by adding a “lights out” third shift on weekdays, and another two “lights out” shifts on the weekend. This solution allowed them to achieve constant production on a critical production task. Without automation, machining bobbins for ventilators would have been the bottleneck in their operation, but automating with READY enabled them to expand throughput. Automation enabled them to aggressively scale up production in support of the COVID-19 response.</p><h2>Highlights</h2><p>74% boost in output - on a task that would have been a chokepoint</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1606321204012-1606321204012.png" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><blockquote>This solution has performed beyond our expectations. From programming it ourselves in three days, to running lights out in 10 days, to paying for itself in the first month - we couldn’t be more pumped. We’re looking for the next task to automate!</blockquote><blockquote>Greg Camron, Machine Shop ManagerAlicat Scientific&nbsp;</blockquote>

The fastest flow controller manufacturer in the world doubles production to support skyrocketing COVID-19 ventilator demand for mass flow meters, mass flow controllers, and pressure controllers.

Alicat Scientific doubles production to support skyrocketing COVID-19 ventilator demand

<p>Creating a greener aerospace sector is key for the industry to bounce back from Covid-19 according to a new report released today.</p><p>The second part of Protolabs’ Horizon Shift report – which involved aerospace business leaders from across Europe – reveals that more than three quarters of firms (77%) expect environmental credibility to become a key differentiator moving forward. Also, 72% indicate that new materials will be the driving force in lowering emissions and making flying cleaner.</p><p>65% believe investment in innovation that reduces emissions should continue despite the pandemic, with 42% now transforming their supply chains as part of the innovation drive to cut down CO<sub>2</sub> output.</p><p>Senior executives from Composite Technology Center, Schiebel Group and Tecnam were among 80 senior leaders recently interviewed to understand how this critically important market was looking to recover from the far-reaching impact of Covid-19. The latest survey was conducted in June as a follow-up to an initial survey of 325 executives taken in February and March at the start of the pandemic. This latest report presents a unique insight into the sector, particularly in regard to what has changed as a result of the pandemic.</p><p>In addition to environmental improvements, companies are also looking for Government support and stimulus packages to help them create new revenue streams, embed innovation in the supply chain and bring new products to market quickly.</p><p>39% believe that there needs to be more immediate investment in infrastructure, whilst 33% are calling on more supportive fiscal policy, such as tax breaks or R&amp;D grants.</p><p>“The two crises of climate change and the Covid-19 lockdowns are changing the face of the aerospace industry,” explained Bjoern Klaas, Vice President and Managing Director of Protolabs Europe, the world’s fastest digital manufacturer of custom prototypes and low-volume production parts.</p><p>“New types of aircraft, business models and supply chains will emerge. Survival is not going to be about a fast transition, but about building up resilience for the long term and, part of that, is producing the next generation of aircraft: improved aerodynamics, lighter, more fuel-efficient and less polluting.”</p><p>He continued: “Our latest Horizon Shift report brings this clearly into view. 77% of companies feel environmental performance will be a key differentiator, a 9% increase from when we asked the same question in our initial survey just before the lockdowns.</p><p>“91% of business leaders admit that cutting CO<sub>2</sub> is having some form of impact on how they run their companies and the good news for the European aerospace sector is that it appears they’ve decided to embrace the pressure by transforming supply chains and developing new technologies and materials.</p><p>“Earlier this year, Airbus reconfirmed its commitment to decarbonisation and leading the development of a more sustainable global aerospace industry – this is a commitment that will filter through its supply chain.”</p><p>The Horizon Shift report delves into challenges facing the supply chain and what operational improvements the sector is taking to overcome these.</p><p>Top of the list of concerns for companies over the next two years was environmental compliance, followed by inflexibility/long supply chain delays (69%) and length of certification process (60%). Volatility in raw material costs and availability (57%) was also a key talking point.</p><p>The research found that firms expect to move from using advanced manufacturing techniques in order to enhance productivity and output, to using them to create a more flexible product range (63%) and deliver parts/aircraft quicker (58%).</p><p>3D printing’s transformation from a prototyping technology into a full production technology was also discussed in the Protolabs report. Through using the technology, companies talked of processing materials at a greater speed, with less waste, and even compressing multiple components into a single lighter 3D printed part.</p><p>Bjoern concluded: “Companies that are experiencing financial pressures in the aftermath of Covid-19 are now focusing on quick wins and speed to market. One way to plan ahead is to create additional revenue streams, but this requires supply chain optimisation and increasing speed to market.</p><p>“In the longer-term, our survey shows that they will look to hire talent, implement new technologies, use new materials and expand their manufacturing capabilities. They might see some unexpected positive outcomes from the crisis: flexibility from upgraded manufacturing supply chains and processes giving the ability to cater to consumer and social pressures with more environmentally friendly aircraft.”</p><p>To download the second part of the Horizon Shift report, <a href="https://get.protolabs.co.uk/aerospace-chapter-two/?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=uk-aerospace-chap2-0920&utm_content=press-release-aerospace-chap2-0920" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">please click here</a>. If you would like further information, please visit <a href="http://www.protolabs.co.uk?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=uk-aerospace-chap2-0920&utm_content=press-release-aerospace-chap2-0920" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.protolabs.co.uk</a></p>

Creating a greener aerospace sector is key for the industry to bounce back from Covid-19 according to a new report released today.

Aerospace companies still set to invest in green opportunities despite Covid-19 reveals new report

Ethan Chiu and Pallavi Gunalan from Respira.Works discuss the design process, challenges, and motivations for building an open-source ventilator to combat COVID-19.


Combating COVID-19 with Open Source: Behind the Scenes at Respira.Works

What can genetics reveal about the coronavirus pandemic?

Decoding COVID-19

<p dir="ltr">The hunt for viable solutions to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic now occupies the minds of almost every single profession. From engineers to mathematicians, and even to clothing brands who now make masks, everyone wants to do their part in stopping the spread. Po-Shen Loh, a Carnegie Mellon University math professor, is no different. He realized back in March that, with a combination of math and physics, he could develop a digital solution to stop the spread of COVID-19. The key initial insight was that COVID-19 spread uncontrollably because people infected others before they even felt the slightest bit sick, and his research area of network theory could be a game changer in pandemic response.</p><p>NOVID is the product of two months of sleepless nights and passionate efforts of a group of around 20 individuals, many of whom are alumni and students of Carnegie Mellon University. They ultimately created the first anonymous contact tracing app published in the USA for both Android and iOS which did not collect any personal information (no GPS, phone number, email, name, etc).</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1589478851037-tech-1.png" style="width: 1080px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">Under the hood, what sets NOVID apart from other contact tracing applications is its use of ultrasonic technology to augment the wireless communication properties of Bluetooth. Many other proposed apps rely only on Bluetooth, but those signals pass through walls and ceilings in apartments and offices. Consequently, Bluetooth-only solutions have the dangerous potential of falsely detecting invalid contacts who had no way of transmitting the disease.</p><p dir="ltr">Indeed, for ordinary applications the range of Bluetooth is an asset, but this technology does not produce precise short-range distance measurements. Other apps measure and record the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) corresponding to nearby devices, but they do not immediately calculate distance because it is still an unsolved problem to reliably translate RSSI into precise distance, especially in complex environments with obstacles that absorb the signal. Contact tracing is a very sensitive task which needs to be carefully executed, and thus the technology that people put in their pockets needs to be accurate. By leveraging ultrasonic technology, NOVID has developed a simple protocol which employs the physics of sound to accurately gauge distances between devices, with minimal impact on battery, and maximum privacy.&nbsp;</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1589478868207-tech-2.png" style="width: 1080px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p dir="ltr">NOVID uses the physics of sound to achieve far better precision than Bluetooth or GPS solutions, drastically reducing inaccurate detection. Sound travels at about 343 meters per second. If Device A sends a sound out at Time X, and Device B hears that sound at Time Y, the distance between them is a very simple calculation: Distance = Rate &times; Time, or 343 &times; (Time Y &minus; Time X). Of course, if people are close by, we are talking about milliseconds of difference between Time Y and Time X. NOVID has been successfully able to measure these differences.</p><p dir="ltr">While using NOVID, the user&#39;s mobile device will emit an inaudible sound, a fraction of a second long, in the frequency range of 18&ndash;20 KHz. When two devices communicate, they are able to identify the distance of said interaction, and store it in their own local databases. Since the application is specifically programmed to work on these high frequencies, it will never process sounds even remotely close to the human voice frequency band. NOVID does not use GPS tracking, which means that all interactions are simply recorded on a relative distance basis, rather than on an absolute location basis. Instead of sensing that Device X and Device Y were both at Location Z, NOVID senses that the devices were simply Distance W from each other. To alert people who might have been infected by others, all that is needed is relative distance, not absolute location. The beauty of collecting only distance measurements is that they avoid recording or storing any location data, which is inherently non-private. (Your typical location at 3 a.m. indicates a lot about you.)</p><p dir="ltr">To ensure privacy, each user is only assigned a randomly generated ID at install time, rather than a username. Without any personal details, the app then sends random temporary ID&rsquo;s to nearby devices, which they record as interactions. When an ill user self-reports an anonymous positive COVID-19 test, we process all of that person&#39;s prior interactions, and then send out anonymized alerts to all of the possibly exposed users. NOVID was founded by a network theory expert, and as such, employs efficient network algorithms to be able to not only alert people to first-order (direct contact) exposures, but also second-order, and even third-order connections to the virus.</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1589478885909-tech-3.png" style="width: 1080px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p><br></p><p>The user experience of the application has always been at the forefront of NOVID. As much as contact tracing is a technical challenge, it is first-and-foremost a social challenge. Without a good user experience, the technical capabilities will not fulfill their potential, and vice-versa. NOVID allows users to view informative interaction metrics displayed on the dashboard; information empowers users to take control of their actions, in a time where we have very little control over the world around us.</p><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1589478971313-novid-mockups1.png" style="width: 1080px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><p dir="ltr"><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o4gZxI0Zkqs?&feature=emb_title&wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br></p><p dir="ltr">The dashboard has three main purposes: self-reporting, daily interaction metrics, and possible exposure alerts. The Self-Report section allows users to report whether or not they have tested positive for COVID-19. The Daily Interactions section features a chart that displays how many unique interactions a user has had each day over the past week, along with how many of those interactions lasted more than 15 minutes. Finally, the Possible Exposures section displays possible transmission events between users, broken down by the aforementioned degrees of contact: direct contact, indirect contact, and distant contact.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Empowering users to know when they&rsquo;ve had exposures allows them to make informed choices about social distancing, thus protecting the rest of their community from further exposures. NOVID is beyond just a contact tracing application&mdash;it is a movement towards a safer global reopening.</p><p dir="ltr">NOVID is currently available for download on both the iOS and Android App stores. Please download to help <a href="https://www.novid.org" target="_blank">Stop the Spread</a>.</p>

Anonymously and reliably trace your exposure to COVID-19 to keep yourself and others healthy.

NOVID: Anonymous Contact Tracing with Ultrasound

<p>In our years in business, we&#39;ve built up a good understanding of industry practices and potential areas of impact, and it&#39;s clear that everyone has been affected, from giant corporations to SMEs. For all our valued customers and suppliers, we hope that sharing our experiences and insights will help us work together to make the best possible recovery.</p><hr><p><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1589479807225-How_Is_COVID_19_Impacting_Manufacturing_.png" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"></p><hr><h2><strong>Supply Chain Disruption</strong></h2><p>World Bank data shows that manufacturing in 2018 accounted for some <a href="http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/4.2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Manufacturing in 2018">16% of global GDP</a>. Additional <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/20858/top-10-countries-by-share-of-global-manufacturing-output/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Manufacturing Data from The United Nations">data from the United Nations</a> shows that well over a quarter of all manufacturing took place in China. Much of this is reliant on the supply of raw materials like plastics and textiles, plus core components for electrical and electronic applications. After the pandemic, these supplies have been disrupted, leading to shortages and a rise in prices. By January 2020, there was already <a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5013542/impact-of-covid-19-on-the-global-manufacturing" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="2-3% Increase in Costs From China">an increase of 2-3%</a> in prices from Chinese vendors as core materials became more scarce.</p><h2><strong>Global Economy</strong></h2><p>As stocks became exhausted and were not replenished, more and more factories were closed, staff laid off and orders cancelled. Consumer demand for many manufactured products has dropped substantially, and some businesses have already repurposed their operations to provide necessary medical supplies and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).</p><h2><strong>Factory Closures</strong></h2><p>Most of China&#39;s production facilities were shut down for at least a month, and this had a knock-on effect throughout the world. Major impacted industries include aviation, automobiles, energy, pharmaceuticals, medical sectors, food and beverages and consumer electronics like TVs and smartphones. In automobile manufacturing, for example, recent figures suggest that production losses in Europe are approaching 2.5 million units.</p><h2><strong>Small Businesses</strong></h2><p>With far fewer resources to fall back on, small businesses are often the first to feel the impact. Disruption to the supply chain may mean they can&#39;t complete existing orders, and future orders may be cancelled. Cash flow will be much harder to manage, with unforeseen expenses such as PPE and video conferencing software. With some employees sick, pressure mounts on others to cover shortfalls, and there may be issues under employment law with excessive hours worked.</p><h2><strong>South West Manufacturing Advisory Service</strong></h2><p>This organisation has focused its <a href="https://www.swmas.co.uk/knowledge/national-2019-q4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="2020 Q1 South West manufacturing Advisory Service Survey">first 2020 quarterly survey</a> on the impacts already suffered by British SME manufacturing. So far, almost 85% of companies surveyed expect a drop in sales, together with a drastic fall in production volumes. 55% predict lay-offs despite the introduction of furlough schemes. Most companies require urgent financial support, though almost 75% don&#39;t think the government initiatives are adequate, or are confused about what support they can get and how. Over 50% of respondents have been impacted by foreign trade restrictions, and 80% have suffered reduced volume of orders or are struggling to find source materials.</p><h2><strong>Government Aid</strong></h2><p>Several support schemes have been <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="UK Government Support Schemes For Businesses">instituted by the UK government</a>, although many small business owners have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/15/covid-19-bailout-loans-issued-uk-firms-banks" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Small Business Owners Express Concern Over Support Schemes">already expressed concern</a> that the process takes too long for relief to be of use. Businesses of all sizes can take advantage of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Employee Retention Scheme, grant funding and more. <a href="https://www.fsb.org.uk/campaign/covid19.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Other Financial Support For Businesses">Other financial support</a> includes Statutory Sick Pay, deferrals of loan payments and tax liabilities, and the new Bounce Back Loan scheme.</p><h2><strong>Changes In Working Practice</strong></h2><p>Perhaps the biggest effect of the pandemic is how we&#39;ve changed our modes of operation. Instead of the daily commute to a centralised location, networks of employees are now working remotely from home. Many more services are being digitised, and new products are launching which obviate the need for people to be physically present. A survey by the UK&#39;s <a href="https://www.iod.com/news-campaigns/news/articles/Lockdown-leading-to-lasting-business-change-new-figures-suggest" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Institute of Directors Lockdown Findings">Institute of Directors</a> suggests that many of these changes will be retained even after lockdowns are eased.</p><h2><strong>Cybersecurity</strong></h2><p>Technological challenges will strain workers&#39; digital skills, and many companies must train staff to handle new working techniques. Increased reliance on automation and digital working relationships also invite more threats to cybersecurity. With more people working remotely, a company&#39;s whole system is at risk, as individual cybersecurity is rarely as stringent as corporate systems. <a href="https://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/hijacked-routers-steering-users-to-malicious-covid-19-sites-a-14022" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Domestic Routers Used As Open Door To Businesses">It has already been reported</a> that cybercriminals are using domestic routers as an open door into business systems, using fake COVID-19 advice sites to hijack routers and access sensitive business data.</p><h2><strong>Uncertainty &amp; Opportunity</strong></h2><p>COVID-19 is impacting manufacturing in many different ways, both economically and socially, and until the crisis is over it&#39;s not possible to foresee what the eventual outcomes will be. The global economy has taken a huge hit and may take some time to recover, though governments are stepping in to help financially. Our most immediate problems relate to changes in working practice, and how to survive loss of pay and changes in working structure. Only a limited proportion of manufacturing work can be done remotely, so the health of personnel needs to be more diligently protected. Some companies, however, might view the crisis as a positive opportunity to move towards the <a href="https://www.rowse.co.uk/blog/post/the-rise-of-artificial-intelligence" target="_blank" title="The Rise of Artificial Intelligence">IIoT</a> and a more automated facility.</p><hr><p>This post was originally posted on <a href="https://www.rowse.co.uk/blog/post/how-is-covid-19-impacting-manufacturing" target="_blank">https://www.rowse.co.uk/blog/post/how-is-covid-19-impacting-manufacturing</a>.</p>

COVID-19 is the biggest crisis to have struck humanity since WW2. As the virus has wrought its devastation, we at Rowse have been considering how COVID-19 is impacting the manufacturing industry particularly.