Demonstrating How a “Contact Tracing App” Works

What are Contact Tracing Apps?

• To reduce the Spread of a Virus, you need to How the Phone App Works
know if you have been in Close Contact ( closer
• When 2 Mobile Phones detect each other
that 2 metres apart ) with anyone who Fell ill with Less Than 2 Metres Apart:
Symptoms of that particular virus within a Few
• Both Phones (A and B) will Send
Days of the contact.
their own User IDs to the Online
Server which is Handling the App’s
• Once the App detects a Close Contact, the infor-
Data.
mation is Sent to a Central Server on the Internet
to be Stored and Analysed. • If the Server discovers that Phone A’s App
has reported getting ill:
• If the Person you had Contact With, then Reports • The Server will Send a Message to
via the App that they have been Diagnosed as Phone B informing its owner.
Having the Virus, the Server will then Inform Your
App.

• If this happens, you should Self Isolate for 2

Weeks, in case you are Incubating the Virus. Oth-
er People in your house that you may Share With
will Also have to Self Isolate as they may Catch it
from You.
A B B
• If you do Fall Ill with the Virus during your Self < 2m Apart
Isolation Period then you must Inform Your App,
which in turn will inform the Apps of All Your
Close Contacts.
 Demonstrating How a “Contact Tracing App” Works

• This Code needs to be Programmed into At Least 2 micro:bits with Different User IDs
• The Array will contain All User IDs that have been in Close Contact with Other Users ( <2m )
All micro:bits Must be set
to the Same Radio Channel • The Array’s Data would then be Sent to a Central Server on the Internet for monitoring

Every User Must Have a Different
ID. Set to a value between 1 and 9
Set the micro:bit's
Transmitter Power to
Minimum to Reduce its
Range to Around 2m
Number from Another
The micro:bit Transmits its This Stops Transmission Immediately.
Own ID Number Continuously However, Other micro:bits will Buffer
their Received Data so it will take a
while before they Stop Receiving
Gets here when the
micro:bit Receives a Don’t Transmit when
Button A is Pressed
micro:bit

Indicate that Another Display All the User IDs Detected

micro:bit has Been when Button B is Pressed
Detected

Save the ID of
This Array the Nearby User
can Store 8 in the Array Button B will Only
User IDs Work when it is
Out of Range of All
Other micro:bits