To date, early detection has been the among biggest methods through which Covid-19 can be cured. In which case, finding out whether you have symptoms of the virus itself can be a huge boon in your recovery, should you fall sick.
To help with that, the University of South Australia has been at work to develop a new piece of technology that may allow them to detect if you exhibit symptoms of Covid-19 early on, according to HIT Consultant and the university’s official website.
In collaboration with drone technology manufacturing company Dragonfly Inc, this new drone that is being developed is said to be able to monitor temperature, heart and respiratory rates, as well as detecting if people are sneezing or coughing in crowds with its on-board sensors.
During their development process, the team has reported that heart rate and breathing rate can be determined with high accuracy rates in a range of between five to ten metres using drones. Algorithms have also been developed to help drones identify and interpret human actions such as coughing or sneezing.
“It might not detect all cases, but it could be a reliable tool to detect the presence of the disease in a place or in a group of people.” says team lead Professor Jaavan Chahl.
This research was initially developed to look into the possibility of using drones to monitor and detect signs of life in war zones or following the event of a natural disaster. However, there’s no mention as to when the drone will be commercially deployed for use as of yet.
What do you guys think of this development?
Also read: Air Force General: Drones and UAVs Will Be Deployed To Monitor Movement During MCO
