在世界许多地方，新冠封锁措施正在逐步解封，这要求企业改善设施卫生条件并保护自己免受病毒爆发的影响。许多企业，尤其是员工近距离协作的工厂、配送中心和物流仓库，也将不得不重新审视其业务流程。大大小小的企业都必须建立安全可靠的工作场所，以降低感染风险并保护员工的健康。
从法律的角度来看，如果雇主没有采取足够的措施保护工人免受公司环境中的病毒传播，他们可能要承担责任。在美国，几个州正在针对个人在工作中感染新冠的情况提议立法，除非他们的雇主可以证明自己采取了保护措施。此外，至少有 14 个州已经采取行动来扩大工人的赔偿范围，将新冠列为与工作相关的疾病。这些例子说明了新冠危机将对企业产生潜在影响。
企业寻求用技术和物联网 (IoT) 应对挑战，以保护员工、提前发现异常并隔离新冠检测呈阳性的同事的接触者。
In several countries, manufacturers are developing and testing contact tracing apps for smart phones. While a digital method is faster and less prone to subjective data than manual interview-based contact tracing, these “big brother” apps are proving controversial because data is being collected and stored about an individual’s whereabouts 24 hours a day.
A better alternative is a proximity sensing solution that works only within the perimeter of a company’s premises. Workers can carry a badge or wear a wristband or lanyard, which includes a proximity sensor and a combined Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Ultra Wide Band (UWB) or LoRa® receiver that detects whether two devices have been closer than six feet, and communicates data with a LoRa-based gateway within the building.
从数据安全的角度来看，有几种替代解决方案。一些解决方案提供商将敏感数据存储在安全的应用中，只有在员工的新冠核酸检测呈阳性时，雇主的授权人力资源人员才能访问该应用。在这种情况下，雇主有能力快速追踪与受感染工人密切接触的所有器件，并向这些器件发送一条消息，告知相应工人必须开始隔离并接受新冠核酸检测。器件和系统中的工人之间没有直接关联。
A contact tracing solution is like life insurance for a company against spreading of the virus on its campus.
接近感应的另一个功能是确保社交距离。当器件彼此靠得太近时，这些器件可以向工作人员发送振动警报或通知。
These tools are readily available and will greatly help to avoid infections. According to estimates from International Data Corp, a market research firm, the market for contact tracing technologies could soon be worth $4 billion annually in the U.S.
Available IoT solutions for contact tracing are based on a combination of BLE, UWB or LoRa for proximity sensing, and LoRa-based networks, such as those based on the LoRaWAN® protocol, for long range communication between the sensors and one or more gateway (base-stations) installed on the premises.
Since the LoRaWAN protocol leverages the unlicensed spectrum, companies can install a private network by themselves, similar to Wi-Fi networks. A benefit of LoRaWAN networks is that coverage can traverse concrete walls and floors and the distance between gateways can be several 100 meters, enabling deep network coverage without the much greater number of access points required for Wi-Fi based solutions.
Employees can bring their wearable device to work with confidence that their privacy is protected because the only environment in which they are traceable is within company premises. When they go outside the company, the sensors will not be in coverage of the enterprise private LoRa-based network, removing the risk of inadvertent tracing of workers at home or anywhere outside the office. Sensor data can be collected and stored in a secure way and can be configured to automatically delete data after two weeks when the information is no longer relevant for contact tracing.
有数家基于 LoRa 的解决方案提供商提供数字接触者追踪解决方案，例如 Actility、Careband、Microshare、Phidata、SmartConnect、SmartMimic、SoluM 等。在我们的网站上探索 LoRa 生态系统中的抗击新冠解决方案。
The underlying wireless technology for contact tracing solutions are LoRa devices provided by Semtech. The LoRaWAN specification, managed by the LoRa Alliance®, is a low power, wide-area networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect battery-operated “things” to the Internet.
Once a company has built a private LoRa-based network, it can also leverage the network for other smart Building applications. For instance, occupancy sensing of shared work desks and meeting rooms could allow staff and employer to know which are in use or free at any given moment. Another compelling use case is restroom cleaning based on actually usage, or soap dispensers alerting when empty. The monitoring of air quality is also becoming ever more important. All of these smart building use cases can operate on the same LoRa-based gateways installed for proximity sensing.
With integrated technologies and shared infrastructure approach, businesses can gain the full benefits of a digital transformation while specifically addressing their immediate requirements for safe and secure workplaces during the COVID era.
下载清单以了解您的企业如何为后新冠疫情时代的重新开业做准备。
Semtech、Semtech 徽标和 LoRa 是 Semtech Corporation 或其附属公司的注册商标或服务商标。