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Digital Contact Tracing Systems

Contact tracing is an essential method for mitigating disease. It has been used for many years in fighting pandemics.

Pandemics have been around forever. They have caused many deaths, impacted the economies of nations, and have changed human history.

Today we are in the middle of the most recent pandemic, and it too has changed our lives. We struggle to maintain mitigation methods such as wearing masks, identifying people with the disease, and contact tracing to control the spread.

This article reviews how contact tracing and other mitigation efforts have been used to fight the pandemic.  It examines the historical, social, political, and scientific aspects of mitigating illness. 

Automated Visitor Management Systems 

Remember when you used to be greeted by someone at the desk in the lobby. They would ask your name and who you wanted to see. Then you would sign in and enter other information into their logbook. Maybe you even got a visitor badge.  Oh wait, many organizations still do this. 

You may have also noticed that the world is changing. There are economic and health pressures that have motivated many organizations to use digital visitor management systems.

Today’s heightened interest in security and health has resulted in the need for better digital visitor authentication.

With the addition of access control panels and kiosks, you can even provide temperature monitoring and protective mask detection.

This article reviews how the latest visitor management system controls entry, provides a record of people entering the facility, and how the systems can integrate with other access control systems.

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According to the CDC, contact tracing is key to slowing the spread of COVID-19.  It helps keep you, your family, and your community safe. In general, contact tracing involves identifying people who have a contagious disease (cases) and people who they encountered (contacts) and working with them to interrupt disease spread. This includes asking people with COVID-19 to isolate and their contacts to quarantine at home voluntarily.

This article reviews the best ways to provide contact tracing.

Wiring the IP Reader-Controllers

The latest access control systems are much easier to install than the older systems. Of course, it’s only easy if you know exactly how to connect everything. The devil is in the details, and this article provides the wiring diagrams you need to make your access control system work.

As a review, the advantage of IP access control systems is that everything is located at the door. The following diagram shows an example of an IP access control system that uses a reader-controller.

Technology Review

So far, this year has been quite tumultuous.  It is the year of the great pandemic and the year of social change. The turbulence of our time has created demands on technology. The use of face recognition provides touchless access control, and temperature scanning with face mask detection helps to limit the spread of disease.

The latest IP cameras include artificial intelligence and can detect people who are too close together. Automated contact tracking has been introduced to help reduce the spread of disease.

The article discusses some of the new technology that can help in these difficult times.

The New Face of Face Recognition

The pandemic of 2020 has caused all of us to think differently. More than ever, we are concerned about the spread of disease. Some people believe that this concern will last well beyond today’s pandemic. Just like the changes that occurred after 9-11, the world will be different in the future.

One way to control the spread of disease is to reduce the amount of surface contact. Biometric systems that use fingerprints, palm recognition, or finger-vein are being replaced by face recognition. This has the advantage of providing contactless or touchless door entry control. This article reviews several new products that use face recognition to control door entry.

The Pros and Cons of Thermal Cameras That Measure a Person’s Temperature

Thermal imaging cameras have been around for many years. They were first used in the 1940s and 1950s by the military.  Long-range camera systems use thermal cameras to help with detection, recognition, and identification (DRI) of targets. They have also been used in previous pandemics.  

Today, thermal imaging cameras have become popular because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

Some of the older thermal cameras have been repurposed to measure a person’s temperature from a distance. The latest systems are designed for measuring people’s body temperature and have been integrated with door access control.

This article reviews the various technologies and how they can help monitor people as they enter a secure area.