Safetree: An Integrated Wearable Device and Mobile Application Solution for Pandemic Mitigation and Post-Pandemic Preparedness, Incorporating Contact Tracing, Social Distancing Emergency Alert Notification, and Socialization Features

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for effective mitigation strategies to reduce infectious disease spread. Safetree is an innovative wearable device and mobile application that integrates social distancing, contact tracing, emergency alert notification, and socialization features. The social distancing feature enabled the devices to successfully detect all nearby wearables within a 1-meter range within their line of sight using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) as a transceiver. Unfortunately, due to environmental conditions that were present in several of the experimental settings, some of the devices operated outside of the 1-meter range. The success rate in generating the appropriate tree diagram for each situation in the experimentation set-up resulted in 100%. The average response time between the wearable device and the mobile application varied from 9 seconds up to almost 11 seconds. In the fields of contract tracing and social network analysis, the tree algorithm has been shown to be effective for examining user interactions. This algorithm was also implemented on the emergency notification feature and, the socialization feature which enabled the users to interact with one another while maintaining social distancing guidelines, promoting mental health and social well-being amidst and after the pandemic.