my co:radar

anonymous. solidary. safe. - Interrupt the chain of infection. Our solution determine whether a user has spent too long and too close to a person infected with SARS-CoV-2 (guidelines of the RKI).

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my co:radar

my co:radar - anonymous. solidary. safe.

An innovative solution for the solidary protection of our community from COVID-19. Anonymous use guaranteed and safe for your health.

Purpose

As part of the Hackathon #WirVsVirus in 2020, this solution was developed to help control the disease COVID-19.

The solution helps users to keep track of their physical contacts and to inform themselves and others in time in case of an infection with COVID-19. The goal is to interrupt the chain of infection at an early stage and reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 so that the healthcare systems can withstand the collapse. The use of this solution complies with the aspects of European data protection (GDPR/EU-DSGVO).

Our idea

Our solution uses unique identifiers from smartphones to determine whether a user has spent too long and too close to a person infected with SARS-CoV-2 according to the guidelines of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

For this purpose, the solution checks the following conditions according to the recommendation:

  • keep a distance of at least two metres to other people and
  • do not stay near infected persons for more than 15 minutes.

Otherwise there is a possibility of infection for the user.

Note: If a previously positive tested user recovers, the status can be reset by the user, so that no incorrect notification is sent at a later time.

Technical implementation

With the solution we provide, all devices in the environment are logged by your own device. The IDs are determined via Bluetooth (BLE) and stored locally as anonymous identification.

From a central server, device IDs of positively tested users are read and the user is warned of a potential infection, thus breaking the chain of infection.

If an ID is only marked as infectious at a later date, all users previously in contact with this ID are informed. This information is provided by client-side synchronization of the list with the IDs known to be infectious.

If a user reports himself as infectious, his ID (only this information!) is transmitted to the server and all users in contact with him are informed via the mechanism described above.

Technical requirements

Components

Client

  • at least two smartphones (currently Android and iOS)
  • Use of the "my co:radar " application on the affected devices (recording of device IDs is possible with one device, but recording and evaluation of a status change only makes sense with a second device - without having to intervene in the data management)
  • activated Bluetooth (on all devices)

Server

  • Server accessible via Internet
  • Docker
  • Use of the backend component for the exchange of users identified as infectious (see Docker mage)
  • Internet connection for data synchronization

Programming languages, frameworks etc.

Privacy

The solution determines a unique ID of the device via Bluetooth (BLE), anonymizes it and uses this anonymized information to match data from other devices.

The data is processed primarily on the user's local device. All device IDs identified in the user's environment, which meet the conditions for a potential infection, are processed anonymized and stored locally.

A synchronization with the server component takes place at regular intervals to determine a list of (also anonymized) device IDs. The IDs are identifiers of devices whose users have tested positive. If a match can be found between this list and the locally stored data, the user is shown a message with recommendations for action. There is no display of device IDs or the location of third-party devices!

The storage of device IDs on the local device is limited to a maximum of 20 days (assumed incubation period plus grace period). A new encounter under these conditions resets the time stamp to the current encounter date.

If the status of another user is changed from previously "infectious" to "recovered" (aka no longer infectious), the entry in the central data storage is removed during the next synchronization. This status will be updated locally the next time the devices are synchronized, thus preventing a new notification.

By processing the device IDs in anonymous form, neither the user nor the server operator can establish a connection between the device (in many cases corresponds to the user) and the processed ID.

Links

my co:radar Pitch Video (not listed publicly, only accessible via link)
User journey "Paul"
Our Youtube Channel
Github Repo

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