Bluetooth Intelligent Body-Temperature Monitoring Solutions Help Schools Reopen Safely

With the arrival of autumn, many teachers and students are returning to school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the top priority of school reopening is to ensure the health and safety of teachers and students. From Bluetooth® medical health monitoring solutions to exposure notification and social distancing solutions, our  members utilize Bluetooth data transfer and location services solutions helping to enable intelligent infection prevention and support a safe return to work and school.

Cassia Networks, a Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) member company, is actively engaged in the development of Bluetooth technology solutions. Its solutions have been widely adopted in smart campuses, industrial IoT, smart healthcare and senior care, sports health, etc. During this epidemic period, Cassia Networks is closely cooperating with its partners to launch a Bluetooth temperature measurement solution, offering real-time body-temperature monitoring and warning for teachers and students as well as accurate tracking of close contacts in the event of an infection.

Recently, I had an opportunity to talk to Felix Zhao, Founder and CEO of Cassia Networks. We discussed how Cassia Networks is using Bluetooth technology to implement intelligent body-temperature monitoring and visual management at scale, helping to ensure a safe and smooth return to school for students and teachers.

Q&A with Felix Zhao

 Could you please provide an overview of the school body-temperature monitoring solution?

As schools continue to reopen, daily body-temperature measurement is not only an effective measure for infection prevention and control but a key criterion for personal health. The Cassia Networks school body-temperature monitoring solution relies on Bluetooth® IoT technology with a Bluetooth gateway to centrally manage the Bluetooth wristband, a device to measure and collect body-temperature data. For schools, a network system is all that is required for dynamic and visual management of school infection prevention and control.

For example, this solution is able to centrally manage all Bluetooth temperature measurement wristbands worn by teachers and students. The wristbands will automatically measure body temperature according to the pre-set time as long as teachers and students wear them, eliminating manual operation and improving the efficiency of temperature measurement.

After measurement, the body-temperature data is displayed on the wristband screen in real time. At the same time, the body-temperature data is uploaded to the health-cloud platform through Bluetooth enabled routers deployed on the campus. A body-temperature account is automatically generated for database management. When the system detects a high temperature, the cloud platform immediately issues a warning to mobile phones of teachers and parent so that they can take timely measures. If a suspected case is detected, the school can accurately track the movement of close contacts through Bluetooth positioning technology, helping to ensure student safety on campus.

How will the solution help schools meet the criteria for reopening safely?

Since the onset of COVID-19, many regional education authorities have required schools to implement body-temperature testing three times a day or testing in both morning and afternoon. Due to the large number of teachers and students, body-temperature measurement one by one is time-consuming and laborious work that will impede the routine teaching pace. Moreover, it is challenging to monitor the body temperature of every teacher and student in real time through conventional temperature measurement solutions. Even if patients with high fever are screened out, it is difficult to identify close contacts.

To cope with these challenges, Cassia Networks and partners worked closely to launch a Bluetooth® based temperature measurement solution for return to work and school in April 2020. The solution effectively solves the time-consuming and labor-intensive temperature monitoring in the prevention and control of COVID-19 infection in enterprises and schools. It offers real-time monitoring and warning of body temperature as well as accurate tracking of close contacts after a potential infection, making it safer to return to work and school.

Have any schools adopted this solution?

This temperature measurement solution has been installed and deployed in many primary and middle schools in Beijing, Northeast China, and other regions with positive feedback from teachers, students, and parents in preliminary use. As schools continue to reopen in the autumn, more primary and middle schools are expected to adopt and deploy this solution soon.

What role does Bluetooth technology play in this body-temperature monitoring solution?

Bluetooth technology plays two crucial roles:

IoT networking and real-time collection and upload of temperature data

This body-temperature monitoring solution enables IoT networking through the Bluetooth® routers for the collection and upload of massive body-temperature data. The router is the heart and soul of the digital temperature measurement system. Without it, the temperature measurement work will return to the most common doorway queuing, and the manual measurement and recording of body-temperature data will require more time and effort.

Using the Bluetooth gateway for data collection offers two major advantages. First, you can set a temperature-measurement time and collect data in a unified way to compare data from the same temperature-measurement time. Second, temperature measurement can be set flexibly according to the requirement of the school, such as batch or random temperature measurement. This flexible and diverse solution is designed to meet individual needs.

Data transfer is the most important factor for the Bluetooth® temperature-measurement wristband to enable automatic, non-perceptual intelligent monitoring. The Cassia Networks Bluetooth IoT gateway covers a range of 200 to 300 meters in an open environment and three to five classrooms in an indoor environment. It can simultaneously connect to multiple devices.

Warning of high temperature and exposure management

The system also features a high-temperature warning mechanism. When a student’s body temperature is detected as abnormal, the system will display a warning message on the management platform as soon as possible and quickly screen out close contacts recorded by the wristbands so that isolation measures can be implemented in a timely manner.

 Why have you chosen to use Bluetooth technology?

The basic technological factor for Cassia Networks to choose Bluetooth® technology is the technology edge and business breadth. From a technological perspective, with the advantages of low power consumption, low cost, and interoperability, Bluetooth technology has grown rapidly in recent years and has been widely adopted in all industries. The number of annual Bluetooth device shipments exceeded 4 billion in 2019, far exceeding the total annual shipments of the other wireless technology protocols. In terms of market applications, Bluetooth technology can be integrated into any device, helping Cassia Networks significantly extend its business.

To date, there are tens of billions of existing Bluetooth devices such as wristbands, safety helmets, blood pressure monitors, blood glucose monitors, and more. They all play a critical role in emerging markets, such as smart industry, smart campus, and digital healthcare. Cassia Networks IoT products and solutions are being used in these markets to provide the long-range coverage, scalability, and security needed while reducing overall costs. We are committed to providing our current customers and future partners with the most advanced Bluetooth IoT products and solutions to meet their needs and those of their customers.