PRE2020 1 Group2

Group Members

Name	Student Code	Email address
Pleun Hutten	1310925	p.m.hutten@student.tue.nl
Jeroen Bakermans	1007330	j.bakermans@student.tue.nl
Rik Nietsch	1244044	r.nietsch@student.tue.nl
D.Kim	1258893	d.kim@student.tue.nl
E.W. Pardijs	1257811	e.w.pardijs@student.tue.nl

Introduction

The measures taken for prevention of the spread of the coronavirus financially affect all sorts of enterprises. Employees are obligated to work from home, children suddenly had to follow online education, thousands of people lost their jobs et cetera. From one moment to the other, there was a lockdown and it wasn’t allowed to leave your home if it wasn’t for a crucial job, grocery shopping or a for a run (on your own). Social distancing is the new norm.

The Netherlands is slowing building up the ‘1.5m-society’; hotels, restaurants, cafes, gyms, museums, education facilities, offices et cetera are allowed to welcome people again, provided that its visitors keep 1.5m distance at all times. However, there is one sector that is still deeply suffering from the measures taken concerning the coronavirus: the event branch. It is not (and will not be in the near future) allowed to organize events with large numbers of people. Festivals, expositions, fairs, markets, mass sports events are all removed from the calendars. But might there be innovative solutions that would nevertheless make such events possible again? That’s exactly what we are going to focus on during this project!

We are going to develop a device that makes sure all visitors of events always keep safe distance of 1.5m between each other. The principle is rather simple: everybody wears this gadget and when two (or more) come into a radius of 1.5m of each other, an alarming signal will go off. This will serve as a warning to the visitors to remain distanced from each other. Furthermore, the violation of the social distancing rules of this specific individual will be registered. The event-organizers could decide to intervene after for instance five warnings.

Objectives

The current COVID-19 situation makes the coming together of hundreds or even thousands of people impossible. The event branch is financially hit and does not have any certainty about when events will be allowed again. Therefore, goal of this project is to come up with an innovative and safe way to make the organization of events possible in times in which the coronavirus is lurking. It is aimed to develop and test a prototype and evaluate the functioning of the device and improve its functionalities.

Stakeholders

Users

Visitors of events

The direct users of the device will be visitors of events like concerts, festivals, expositions et cetera. When you visit an event at which this device will be used, you will have no choice but to accept the terms. A downside for the introduction of the social distancing device may be that a ticket for an event will get more expensive, as for every customer a gadget must be bought.

Event organizers

The event managers will thus provide all customers with a device that tracks the distance they keep from other people. This way the organization can do crowd control to make sure that everybody respects the rules of social distancing. The organization thus uses the devices to create a safe environment for its visitors.

Artists

Artists indirectly also make use of the social distancing gadget. The coming together of larger number of people will be possible again, which is something artists will profit from.

Society

Community

Not many articles have been written on the effects of the quarantine, social distancing and social isolation, as life is far from back to normal. Once more time has gone by, the real psychological impact will become clear. However, there are some first researches in which provisional psychological effects have become clear. The lockdown-measures prevented the virus from spreading on a large scale, but the consequences for isolated individuals will be a problem in the future. Research of Hiremath et al showed that the measures causes psychological problems like depression, anxiety and panic disorder . There have even been reported suicides due to psychological effects of social isolement and all other inconveniences . General research on social isolation also reveals that social isolation evidently harms mental health . Naturally, we need social interaction, which is exactly what was deprived from us in lockdown. Coming together and making fun at a concert or sports event could significantly contribute to minimizing the psychological problems that are caused by the corona crisis.

Local authorities

The local authorities are responsible for deciding which events can take place in their region and which ones are not allowed to take place. Therefore, with the development of this gadget it is aimed to persuade local authorities to allow events with larger numbers of people.

Government

First of all, if a social distancing gadget for events will be nationally introduced, the government will definitely have a say about it. The government of course has to power to keep such a product from the market. However, suppose the gadget will be approved by the government, then it will be up to the local authorities to decide whether to allow events during the corona crisis, as the government has given the responsibility for the regulation of events to the local authorities. However, if the number of infections (and/or hospital admission and deaths) rises significantly, the government has the power to cancel all events (from a certain number of people, for instance 250 people), like it did in the beginning of the corona crisis. The government thus can always take control.

Enterprise

Manufacturers

Obviously, if this device gets through the testing phases and it is approved by all governmental institutions, it must be manufactured on a larger scale.

Logistic companies

After the product has been manufactures, it will by supplied to event organizations by logistic companies.

Security

The introduction of this gadget will affect security companies. These last months the number of security employees in places where many people come together has risen significantly. The introduction of this product might take away the need for extra security.

User Needs

Customers

Although restaurants and cafés are opening their doors and summer-evenings are being spent on the terrace, the festival-summer is entirely cancelled. The social isolation is deeply affecting not only children and young adults, but also the elderly. Everybody longs for entertainment, like we were used to. Therefore, it would be a relief, not only economically, but also psychologically for the society if the event sector could resume activities.

For the users it was decided that a survey would be a good way to determine what the users’ needs are. The survey contained 10 questions about events and the idea of being monitored by the organization. The target group is attendees of events. The survey was done anonymously and online via SurveyMonkey.

Results

1. How often, in a normal year, do you attend an event?

Answers	Percentage	Number reactions
0	0%	0
1 to 2	22.22%	8
2 to 5	41,67%	15
6 +	36.11%	13
Total	100%	36

This question’s purpose was to get to know the respondents. Our respondents usually go to an event in a normal year. This is good news because those people are our target group. So, all the data that is gathered in this survey is relevant for our user study.

2. How many events did you attend this year?

Answers	Percentage	Number reactions
0	33,33%	12
1 to 2	47.22%	17
2 to 5	13,89%	5
6 +	5.56%	2
Total	100%	36

Here a shift is noticed. Some respondents did not go to any event this year. Still most of the users did go to an event this year. The follow up question was what kind of measurements the event took to maintain the distance and safety of the attendees.

3. If you went to an event this year. What measurements did they take regarding Covid-19?

Here an error was found in the question. Three respondents answered the question with the fact that the events were before the outbreak of covid-19. So those answers were not useful. The most notable answers are that the events are a lot smaller, users had to stick to a fixed table with 4 people. One extreme was that the temperature was measured before entering the event. Almost every answer contained disinfection.

4. If you went to an event this year. Could you keep enough distance to the other attendees? And did you actively pay attention to keeping distance?

For the first question of 21 respondents 17 said yes to this question. So, keeping distance was possible due to their being enough space. The remaining respondents said that there was not enough space. Some noted that in the room there was enough space but when entering the toilet this was impossible to do. To the second question 5 respondents said that they actively paid attention to the distance. The remaining respondents noted that after some alcohol consumption they did care less about the distance. This resulted in not paying attention and violating the rule of keeping 1.5 meters distance.

5. Would you wear a device which measures your distance to others to attend an event?

Answers	Percentage	Number reactions
Yes	72,22%	26
No	27.78%	10
Total	100%	36

Surprisingly most of the respondents would wear a device that would measure the distance. This gives room to design such device.

6. May this wearable give you warnings, via vibrations, when you come to close?

Answers	Percentage	Number reactions
Yes	72,22%	26
No	27.78%	10
Total	100%	36

Same results as with question 5. This seems logical due to the fact that the same respondents find it a good idea.

7. Can you think of other feedback systems you would like?

This question was added to get some feedback from the respondents. It is possible that they have a good idea that was not accounted for by the research team. Most of the respondents answered no to this question.

8. After receiving three warnings the security will come and will ask why you are not adhering to the rules, without a good reason you will be removed from the festival. Would you as an attendee agree with these terms?

Answers	Percentage	Number reactions
Yes	56,56%	20
No	44.44%	16
Total	100%	36

9. When answered no. Why not?

A lot of respondents said that this is too harsh. It is very error sensitive in the sense that if someone else comes close to you are you then to blame for his or her mistake. So, how can this problem be solved that it is fair to every user. The respondents said it is fair when this is accounted for but otherwise most of them would not support such a system. This is something the research time should think about. 3 people did not support it at all, this because of the money lost.

10. Would you prefer such a system over standing in a given spot which you cannot leave? Why?

22 respondents of the 31 that responded answered yes to this question. The main reason was the feeling of more freedom at a festival. The remaining respondents liked the fixed spot because of the safety advantages they thought it had. It can go wrong when your spot is fixed.

Conclusion

To conclude this user research it can be noted that most of the respondents would like such a device that gives them more freedom. Some respondents are skeptical about if this is a system that can be maintained by an organization, however, they are open to the idea. One problem to take away from this research is how to make it fair when somebody has to be removed from the event. This is of course error sensitive and this has to be looked at by the research team.

Raw data: [1]

Event organizers

In this crisis it becomes clear that many sectors profit from the organization of events. Sport athletes, artists, bands, orchestras, catering and all organizations that are responsible for the setting up of events suddenly were busy cancelling their events and paying back people’s money instead of making money. Many enterprises are in deep crisis or already went bankrupt .

To find out what the exact problem is in the event sector (it could be the lower number of customers, the social distancing, the hygiene et cetera) we contacted some event agencies, festival organizers and concert halls. This is a summary of the answers we received to the questions via mail.

In this project we are focussing on big events out in the open air with a larger number of people. If adhering to the social distancing and hygiene rules, what is/are the problem(s) that make(s) the organisation of these events so hard? Is this for instance the social distancing at the entrance/exit or the bar or at the stages. Or is it something else?

An employee of an event agency says that he doesn't believe in 1.5 meter-events. At a festival you ought to be able to freely dance, sing and drink. He refers to a research of Mojo concerts, in which the main conclusion was that events without keeping distance out in the open air are not as dangerous as is being thought. It states that more than 96% of the infections happens inside and that super spreading events also always happened inside . He argues that festivals and concert should be allowed without social distancing, as the chance of getting ill is very little if you're younger than 45 years. Everybody has to take responsibility and when in doubt: stay home.

The organizer of the festival Bontgenoten confirms that organizing events with 1.5 meters distance is almost impossible. He also mentions another problem: standing is not allowed. Furthermore, capacity drops drastically. Another problem is alcohol consumption: during the day the 1.5 meters is mostly respected. However, when it gets dark and the alcohol kicks in, visitors are having a harder time respecting the distance.

Do you have any ideas about how to control the crowd in order to make sure the 1.5 meter distance is being respected? You can think of cameras, an app or other sorts of gadgets.

The organizer of Bontgenoten says that they haven't thought of crowd control. They use security to make the visitors aware of the social distancing rules and motivate visitors to adhere to these. He says that this is a cheaper way than using electronics for crowd control.

Do you consider the following gadget desirable at a festival? All customers get a gadget when they enter the festival. This gadget continuously tracks the distance to other gadgets of other people. If two (or more) gadgets come within a radius of 1.5 meter an alarming signal will go off. Too many warnings for violating the social distancing rules means exclusion from the festival. Another function of this gadget could be that we would program it in such a way that people from the same household do not have to keep 1.5 meter distance. What do you think?

The employee of the event agency worries about friends: they are not from the same household, but probably do not want to keep 1.5 meter distance.

Do you have any other ideas how we could possibly help the eventbranch?

The employee of the event agency mentions a quick coronatest. Everyone has to undergo a coronatest, of which the result is known in two minutes. Everyone that tests negatively is allowed to enter, the rest has to go home.

The organizer of Bontgenoten also thinks of a scan that can detect whether a visitor has (had) the coronavirus and/or has been vaccinated. Another idea is a 'body wash' that every customer has to do before entering the terrain.

This was all feedback we got via email. We also had an appointment with an employee of the Effenaar, an (indoors) event location in Eindhoven. She gave us insight in problemsome situation they are in at the moment. A summary of the conversation is written below.

What do you consider to be the biggest problem for organizing events in the current covid-19 situation?

In short, the following measures and its consequences are killing for the Effenaar:

First of all, the 1.5 meter distance rule drastically brings down capacity. In their biggest hall they can normally receive 1300 guests. The government now has the policy that indoor locations can receive as many people as possible provided that enough distance is kept. For the Effenaar, this means that they can sell 50 duo-tickets. Obviously, this makes shows far from profitable. They need at least 900 guests to be cost-effective. The cancelling of shows and the lower capacity has lead to dismissal of more than half of the staff.

Secondly, the 1.5 meter has to be respected at all times, also at the entrance, exit, bar and bathrooms. The Effenaar has introduced walking routes and signing. However, guests are having a hard time following these routes. The Effenaar also organized some outdoor events on 1.5 meters with a larger number of people. This raises one more challenge: crowd control. How do you boost the flow of guests?

Furthermore, at all events guests have to sit. It is not allowed to stand, because violation of the social distancing is more likely when standing. Although these sitconcerts might not be the biggest problem for singer-songwriters, a dance-, house- or hardstyle-concert without being able to dance is almost unimaginable.

We also talked about the tracking device. This is the feedback we received on that:

Just beeping or lightening up is not enough. The lightening can be ignored easily and the beeping might not be heard because of the music. Therefore, vibrating is the better option.

How do we make sure that people do not take off the bracelet? On the other side, making sure that the bracelet can't be taken off might give an anxious feeling. Have guests a choice?

About the idea of this device, she said the following: guests book a ticket for entertainment, relaxation. Continuously being buzzed because you accidently pass someone in the toilets is far from relaxing. Also when extra features are added such as only alarming the person that is responsible for violating the distance rule (by tracking movements) and raising the threshold of seconds for receiving a warning visitors will still have an uncomfortable feeling continuously being tracked. A better alternative would be to send the warnings to security, who can approach the guests and remind him or her of the rules.

Last but not least, it is useful to design this tool? It is now possible to organize events with the current measures. Such a tool would only be useful if it would enable the Effenaar to scale up capacity or when standing concerts would be allowed.

Ethical considerations

The development of this product requires considering whether the (ethical) disadvantages weigh up against the advantages for the users. The advantages for the users have been described above. The social distancing gadget will make events possible again in times in which corona is amongst us, which means that customers can have entertainment, while event organizers and artists profit from this.

Not only the advantages, but also the (ethical) disadvantages must be paid attention to. Obviously, this tool only gives the desired result if every visitor on the terrain carries a device. As a consequence, each visitor must accept to wear a gadget and respect the social distancing rules at all times. This means that someone who does not want to be monitored all the time, cannot be admitted to the festival terrain. So customers have no choice but to compromise to wearing this gadget, otherwise they will be excluded form the event. It can be argued that this not entirely ethically neat. However, we think that this is the only way to make events fully corona-proof (with of course extra measures for hygiene).

This means that the crowd will be constantly monitored. If a device comes within a radius of 1.5m of another device, a warning will be sent out the users of both devices. In the first versions of the product it will not be able to make a distinction between devices of foreigners or devices of people living together. Consequently, people from the same household unfortunately also have to keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other.

Legal aspect

Face mask duty

From the 5th of August till the 31st of August 2020 there was a face mask duty in certain busy spots in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. (https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/5175421/mondkapje-coronavirus-plicht-drukke-gebieden-amsterdam-rotterdam and https://nos.nl/artikel/2345715-amsterdam-en-rotterdam-stoppen-met-mondkapjesplicht.html) This rule was implemented by the mayors of the two cities. According to professor of law and society Jan Brouwer of the state university of Groningen and professor of constitutional law Wim Voermans of the university of Leiden the face mask duty is legally not possible. (https://nos.nl/artikel/2342362-deskundigen-verplicht-dragen-mondkapje-is-wettelijk-niet-mogelijk.html) According to Voermans the duty is in violation of article 10 of the Dutch Constitution, the right to privacy. As Wim Voermans says “all colleagues agree: this is not possible”. However, in public transport in the Netherlands there is a face mask duty. As Brouwer says: “The Passenger Transport Act of 2000 contains a separate part on the basis of which the carrier can impose requirements on the wearing of a face mask. It is the private carrier who take the initiative.” (https://www.omropfryslan.nl/nieuws/978741-hoogleraar-recht-algemene-mondkapjesplicht-kan-juridisch-gezien-niet) According to mr-online.nl an employer could impose the face mask duty to his/her employees based on the right to instruction. Provided that this is reasonable and the employee has no (constitutional) objections to this. It could be seen as an extra dress code. (https://www.mr-online.nl/mondkapjes-op-de-werkvloer-verplichten-verbieden-of-toestaan) It is unclear if it would be possible for an event organization to impose a face mask duty onto its visitors. However, regarding the coronabeeper duty, it is also possible to work with wristbands duty as a way of entering the festival and for e.g. getting alcohol, so it might be possible to enforce a coronabeeper duty.

Enforcement of coronabeeper duty

The problem with enforcement by security workers of the festival is that they are limited in available resources. BOA’s are already having a difficult time in the Netherlands regarding enforcement because of rebellious citizens, so security workers can get a difficult time as well. Especially when people are drinking alcohol, they could be less cooperative regarding the social distancing. Then there is also the support base which can decrease and can be unstable. When the incident with minister Grapperhaus happened for example, a lot of people where angry and this incident made enforcement more difficult for policemen and BOA’s. The same could apply for security workers. Just like with restaurants and bars, it is possible for the government to keep the restaurants and bars responsible for making sure all guests follow the distance rules. Out of fear that bars and restaurants would get fines, some bars and restaurants decided to not open up again. (https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/zorgen-om-naleving-coronaregels-in-horeca-meerdere-zaken-gesloten~a8b19d9d/) If these restaurants and bars have difficulty with enforcement, imagine having a festival with way more people. That would be more difficult and it is imaginable that festival organizations would be even more afraid of getting fines. And suppose such controls would take place and the government inspectors say the rules cannot be enforced then it is not only the case that the organization gets a fine. It might also be the case that the festival has to end. Of course this would be a huge disappointment for the visitors and a lot of costs for the organization e.g. not being able to make money from visitors buying drinks, but being tied to contracts with caterers, security etc. Also prior to all of this, visitors might not go to a festival as easily when they know they might be send away because of people not adhering to the rules and government inspection with a closure as a result. Furthermore, the government has to give permission for the festival to take place and given that reinforcement is so difficult, the government will probably not give permission.

Ideas to overcome the problems mentioned.

Idea 1: coronaproof equipment for security

Security wears face shields, gloves and possibly other equipment to be able to physically remove someone.

Criticism:

- Police cannot respect the distance rule when doing an arrest, but the police is excepted from respecting the rule. (https://nos.nl/collectie/13838/artikel/2331724-bij-aanhoudingen-kunnen-we-geen-anderhalve-meter-afstand-houden) Security workers are not an essential occupancy that would easily get such an exemption by the government. It is unclear if they would get such an exemption, but it is possible to argue that the government wants to grant as little exceptions as possible to stop the spread of the virus.

- Also police can put on a spit mask on an arrestee if he/she does not want to cooperate and wants to spit on the police. I do not think security workers would get such a competence.

- In case a situation escalates with a lot of people, police can call for assistance, while this is harder for festival security. Or you would need a lot of security, but this is costly.

- When a group of people does not adhere to the 1.5 meter distance it is possible that security can contribute to the spread of the coronavirus, since there might not be enough time to clean the gloves for example.

Idea 2: blacklist for offenders

If a festival attendee offends the 1.5 meter distance rule, then security will be called and the visitors gets an official warning. If the visitor offends the distance rule again he/she will be send away from the festival. If this visitor offends the distance rule and does not cooperate with security, he/she will be put on a blacklist for all festivals and possibly other events for the coming year for example.

Criticism:

- What if it happens by accident, but security cannot check this and people do not cooperate? Then bad publicity for festival

- What if innocent visitors are put on the blacklist, because of bad organization of a specific festival? Then this person cannot go to all other festivals and this would be very bad publicity for the branch as a whole. Therefore cooperation between festival and events organizations might be unrealistic.

- There are also privacy concerns. Restaurants and bars for instance are not allowed to check for identity cards, purely for checking names. “Guests can therefore give up a fake name”, says director of branch association Catering Industry of the Netherlands Dirk Beljaarts. (https://www.parool.nl/nederland/horeca-sceptisch-over-registratieplicht-voor-maandag-lukt-dit-nooit~bc0b4a2b/) According to the Dutch Authority of Personal Data (AP) it is unclear if a guest is allowed to be refused if he/she does not cooperate. Looking at the catering industry, also for the festival industry it will be practically impossible to enforce such a blacklist.

State-of-the-art

Due to the outbreak of global pandemic COVID 19, there have been many efforts to keep up to date with technologies to enhance devices or systems e.g. Analysis of big data, Artificial intelligence, Blockchain. Stuff that has been already made are such as a real-time tracking map, modelling studies of the viral activity in each country using a database, active communication between people and public institutes using social media platforms, the thermal imaging–enabled facial recognition system and algorithms running on positive cases of COVID 19. Our group's projects also want to follow the technological trend according to the pandemic. This project is aimed at developing a wristband/watch that can alert and remind the reasonable social distance (1.5m) between people at a festival or an event venue.

Technologies for social distancing

A social distancing has been introduced to reduce the spread of the pandemic at the early stage. However, there have been difficulties to implement a social distancing in large-scale measures. To mitigate these difficulties, a lot of effective technologies are used to facilitate social distancing in practice. e.g. AI, thermal, computer vision, Inertial sensors, ultrasound and visible light. The referenced paper above also contains information about wireless technologies and open issues. Other than this, there is an enhanced technology regarding deep learning framework for monitoring social distancings. This framework uses YOLO v3 detection model and Deepsort to separate people from the background at a surveillance camera and tracking people with IDs and boxes. However, it is hard to implement on a small device we are planning to make. Thus, this idea is not going to be used in our project.

Ultra-wideband for location detection

This paper conducts research about a comparison with Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and Ultrawide-band (UWB) technology. There are two main reasons for using Ultrawide-band(UWB) instead of Bluetooth(BLE) on this paper. The first reason is that the UWB time of flight is better than the BLE receive signal strength indication. The paper shows the second reason by stating an industrial trend in using location technology at the company, Apple. Nevertheless, the company has been promoting for BLE for years, it has replaced IBeacon BLE technology by UWB. This is because UWB has brought the possibility to use more applications and higher quality. Also, the location accuracy and data rates are higher than BLE since UWB operates in a wide frequency range (approximately 500 MHz) while BLE does in around 2 MHz.

The paper introduces a concept of indoor positioning technique and provides an analysis of SWOT which is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Also, it states various positioning technologies e.g. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) - which can be replaced or improved by UWB -, Infrared (IR), Ultrasonic, Zigbee, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Cellular Based, Bluetooth, Dead Reckoning, Image-Based Technologies and Pseudolites and it explains why UWB has gained attention as a positioning skill. At the intro part, it compares Indoor positioning systems (IPSs) and Global Positioning System (GPS). IPSs keeps updating data continuously in real-time but signals attenuate and scatter to go through solid obstacles using GPS. With our project, it is stated that the product is aimed at an outdoor event or festival. However, assuming that data can be updated more quickly and that people's movements are not as extensive as military operations or satellite orbits in space, IPSs would be more suitable to apply than GPS. Furthermore, in terms of the cost, UWB is also cheaper than other technologies and consumes less power.

UWB has an accuracy of 5 to 10 cm compared to roughly 5m accuracy for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The data rate of UWB has been adjusted to 6 to 8 MB/s in contrast to the past in which it was 100 MB/s, for better use for mobile devices. Also UWB consumes less power than Wi-Fi. However a disadvantage of UWB is that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are better at interacting with mobile devices.

Dual patch microstrip antenna

Dual patch microstrip antenna does not require a physical connection between the antenna compartment and the feed line. Also, a combination of slot coupling technique and the two-layer electromagnetically coupled patch (EMCP)antenna offers advantages that the device can be used in wideband and experiences a low cross-polarisation. The impedance bandwidth of the microstrip could be improved when a modest horizontal displacement between the two patches are given.

Ultrasonic sensor

Al-Mahturi, Ayad & Rahim, Ruzairi. (2016). ULTRASONIC SENSOR FOR DISTANCE MEASUREMENT

One technique that can be used to measure the distance between different objects is with ultrasonic sensor. This technique is based on measuring the pulse reflection time. So, how long it takes to get the echo from the original sound. Ultrasonic sound is not hearable by humans. Usually a normal ultrasonic sensor can measure a maximum distance of 2.5 meters. A downfall of this technique is that the refresh rate of the sensor is low.

GPS

Shen, J. S., Bao, Y., Gan, W., Guo, W., Zhang, M., & Wang, G. (2018). Millimeter-accuracy structural deformation monitoring using stand-alone gps: case study in beijing, china. Journal of Surveying Engineering, 144(1). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)SU.1943-5428.0000242

N. Idris, A. M. Suldi, J. R. A. Hamid and D. Sathyamoorthy, "Effect of radio frequency interference (RFI) on the Global Positioning System (GPS) signals," 2013 IEEE 9th International Colloquium on Signal Processing and its Applications, Kuala Lumpur, 2013, pp. 199-204, doi: 10.1109/CSPA.2013.6530041.

GPS is another technique to determine the distance between multiple users. The precision of the GPS technique is around the 5-7 mm in this study. Dual frequency GPS is preferable. A dual-frequency GPS does not use one signal but uses two signals to improve the accuracy and reduce disturbance from Radio frequency interference (RFI). An example of such interference could be that from Bluetooth other sources could be that from wireless networks. So, this can be hard to realize when one would like to organize a festival with many attendees. Another problem can a multipath error. This means that the signal bounces of buildings or obstructions leading to making the GPS confused. However, in an open field at a festival this would not be the case.

Bluetooth

Cho, Hosik & Ji, Jianxun & Chen, Zili & Park, Hyuncheol & Lee, Wonsuk. (2015). Measuring a Distance between Things with Improved Accuracy. Procedia Computer Science. 52. 10.1016/j.procs.2015.05.119.

Another technique that can be used to measure distance is with a Bluetooth low-energy sensor. Via the signal strength distance can be estimated. The downfall is that the outcomes of such measurement comes with an high error rate, almost 50%. This can be reduced by self-correcting beacons these are placed at an fixed position. This point will act as an reference point for the others to measure from. This reduces the error rate to 10% within a distance of 1.5 meters. Without this extra beacon estimation can be made on how close someone is but no real precise numbers can be given.

Bluetooth (BLE) is about proximity sensing, not measuring distance per se. Measuring distance can be done using signal strength, however that might not be a good indicator. For example there could be an object in the way. To overcome this, a technique called “fingerprinting” could be used. Fingerprinting makes several measurements to several fixed beacons and then chooses the distance to be the closest distance to a beacon.

Combining technologies

Instead of using a single medium to estimate the locations of the targets, positioning technologies can be combined to get the best of both worlds. For example, the SVG system combines WLAN and UWB. WLAN has the advantage of covering large area, while UWB can give highly accurate position estimated in some small required areas.

Plan

Approach

In order to produce a solution to our problem we will use the following approach. First of all we’ll do the necessary research required to come up with a design for our product. This will be research into the current state of our problem, the technological aspects of the problem and also the societal implications of a solution. We will formalize the requirements, preferences and constraints of our product and possibly interview stakeholders related to our problem, we will then create a preliminary design from which we will develop a detailed design. From the design we will develop a functional prototype that can be used to help maintain a distance of 1.5m between people, this functional prototype will be tested with a predetermined test plan. All throughout the course we aim to actively maintain the wiki page to document the design process, a presentation will also be made.

In the planning below it can be seen how we aim to divide the process over the weeks.

Planning

Week	Tasks	Milestones
Week 1	Form groups, choose a subject, document problems statement, start planning and research.
Week 2	Continue research, formalize RPC's of product and possibly get in contact with stakeholders.
Week 3	Create preliminary design, decide the necessary hardware and obtain it	Complete preliminary design
Week 4	Detailed design, create test plan, breadboard prototype	Complete design
Week 5	Work on prototype and document full design on wiki
Week 6	Work on wiki and finish the prototype and perform test plan.	Working prototype
Week 7	Document results on wiki page, produce presentation video
Week 8	Last touches on wiki and video	Complete wiki, complete presentation

Deliverables

At the end of this project we want to have three deliverables:

• A functional prototype that has been tested
• A wiki page documenting:
  • The Research performed
  • The design process of our prototype
  • The results and concluding remarks
• A video presentation about our prototype.

Literature study

Position Measurement using Bluetooth, by Sheng Zhou and John K. Pollard

Using bluetooth there is an position error of about 1.2m indoors. Outdoors this is generally less, however in the case of strong multipath interference there can still be errors.

Distance Sensing with Ultrasonic Sensor and Arduino, by N. Anju Latha , B. Rama Murthy, K. Bharat Kumar

An Arduino microcontroller in combination with an ultrasonic sensor can be used to measure distance. Ultrasonic sensor are popular, since they are cheap and have a precision of less than 1 cm in distance measurements of up to 6m. The most common method for measurement is the time of flight measurement, which measures the time between departure and arrival of a signal. A disadvantage of this way of measurement is that the target to be measured should be perpendicular to the plane in which the signal travels. It also the case that the bigger the target, the more accurate the distance will be measured.

The Impact of Covid 19 on Event Management Industry in India, By Mr. Anup M Gajjar & Dr. Bhaveshkumar J Parmar

The event management sector is the fastest growing industry in India. This industry has a lot of damage because of Covid-19, but it is not easily quantifiable how much, since the industry does not come under one ministry or one department, in contrast to e.g. Germany. A lower growth of India’s economy will mean a lower growth of the event industry and a lot of jobs are at stake. The event management sector are now advised to organise events such that information is up-to-date, spaces are well designed to prevent crowd stupidities, communication is clear and event managers are urged to plan for finance and make hand-washing more accessible. It is not possible the identify the loss accurately, but it is certain that because of travel fear and public gathering fear it will take time to recover.

Were Stay-at-Home Orders During Covid-19 Harmful for Business? The Market’s View, by Chen Chen , Sudipto Dasgupta, Thanh D. Huynh, Ying Xia

Stay-at-Home orders were actually good for business. In states without Stay-at-Home orders businesses were worse off. In the U.S., where the research was conducted, it is found that the effect is seen more vividly in counties with a high number of infections and for firms in essential industries. Although the short-term effects of a lockdown seem bad for business, the long-term effects are positive. A reason for this might be that the measures are seen as necessary for stopping the spread of the virus and making labour participation possible.

COVID-19 impact on city and region: what’s next after lockdown? bY Myounggu Kang , Yeol Choi , Jeongseob Kim , Kwan Ok Lee , Sugie Lee , In Kwon Park , Jiyoung Park & Ilwon Seo

Density does not play a big role in the spread of the virus. On the contrary, cities have benefits, such as response times or hospitals being nearby that could be taken advantage of. Essential services should also be close by and there should be enough cheap housing. Furthermore, economics structures like global trade should be restored to keep jobs. Also privacy concerns should not be underestimated and transparency and voluntary consent should be premised. Last but not least we should make sure prejudice and hatred do not develop, which means a great deal of social effort should be made.

Other useful links:

Arduino with an ultrasonic sensor and a buzzer. If an object gets too close to the sensor, the buzzer goes off.

https://www.instructables.com/id/ARDUINO-DISTANCE-BUZZER/

Using Bluetooth:

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/tanishq/diy-bluetooth-proximity-sensor-c82265

LIDAR:

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/lidar-lite-v3-hookup-guide/all

15-25 cm accuracy(?)

https://www.getmapping.com/support/height-lidar-data/how-accurate-height-data-and-lidar

Logbook

Week 1

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	9.5	Meetings (1.5 hrs), brainstorming (1 hr), literature study on state of the art (7 hrs)
Pleun	10.5	(Preparing and) meeting (2 hrs), reading other wiki's and brainstorming (1.5 hrs), writing on introduction, objectives, stakeholders, users needs and ethical considerations (5 hrs) and literature research psychological part (2 hrs)
Dayeong	11.5	Meetings (1.5 hrs), looking up wikis of previous projects + searching for 8 technology literature (6 hrs), Reading papers and making a summary on State-of-the-art (4 hrs)
Rik	10	Meetings (1.5 hrs), researching for subject, reading and summarizing papers regarding the technical aspect of our product and the financial impact of Corona
Erik	9	Meetings (1.5 hrs), meeting prep, brainstorming and looking through previous wikis, writing on plan, looking for more relevant papers

Week 2

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	0	Tasks here
Pleun	7	Meeting (1.5 hrs), mailing and calling event agencies and festival organizers, working out answers from them
Dayeong	4	Metting 0.5 hrs + 1 hr + Wristband research 1 hr + contact(WATPod) + modelling(meeting) 0.5 hrs + brainstorming research 1 hrs
Rik	5	Meeting, researching legal aspect on forced use of face masks, coronabeepers etc., coming up with ideas for making festivals possible again and talking with Van Klink who knows about legal aspects on enforcement of the distance rule
Erik	0	Tasks here

Week 3

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	0	Tasks here
Pleun	0	Tasks here
Dayeong	0	Tasks here
Rik	0	Tasks here
Erik	0	Tasks here

Week 4

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	0	Tasks here
Pleun	0	Tasks here
Dayeong	0	Tasks here
Rik	0	Tasks here
Erik	0	Tasks here

Week 5

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	0	Tasks here
Pleun	0	Tasks here
Dayeong	0	Tasks here
Rik	0	Tasks here
Erik	0	Tasks here

Week 6

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	0	Tasks here
Pleun	0	Tasks here
Dayeong	0	Tasks here
Rik	0	Tasks here
Erik	0	Tasks here

Week 7

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	0	Tasks here
Pleun	0	Tasks here
Dayeong	0	Tasks here
Rik	0	Tasks here
Erik	0	Tasks here

Week 8

Name	Total Hours	Tasks
Jeroen	0	Tasks here
Pleun	0	Tasks here
Dayeong	0	Tasks here
Rik	0	Tasks here
Erik	0	Tasks here