RAPID:COVID-19: A Low-Cost Disposable Wearable for Real-Time Tracking of the Risk of and Recovery to COVID-19, Influenza, and other Viral Infections

世界目前在应对COVID-19等病毒性大流行病方面准备不足。世界各地的检测试剂盒供应短缺，由于症状与流感和普通感冒等其他常见感染非常相似，检测供应短缺意味着医生只会对符合非常特定症状的患者进行检测-让其他人对他们是否被感染一无所知。这会导致数量不详的人--许多可能被感染的人--有可能将病毒传播给他人。世界迫切需要一种方法来定量分类那些处于高风险的COVID-19携带者，而不仅仅是基于他们自我报告的症状。此外，受感染者在家中休养，无法知道他们的康复进展情况和/或他们的症状是否足以需要住院治疗（否则可能为时已晚）。所有这一切不仅适用于COVID-19，也适用于未来任何可能席卷世界的病毒感染。因此，即使COVID-19测试最终能够大量使用，该计划中开发的技术仍将有助于在未来的病毒爆发中帮助自我分类和自我监测受试者。 这个RAPID项目的目的是研究和开发可穿戴平台技术，可用于监测病人，在真实的时间，以确定他们目前被感染的可能性，如果他们被感染，他们的恢复过程是如何沿着。这将通过一种混合可穿戴设备来实现，该设备同时监测体温以进行发热检测，并监测呼吸功能以进行咳嗽和呼吸短促测量。重要的是，本文要研究和开发的技术将从根本上设计为极低的功率，使得设备可以在没有电池的情况下经由能量收集装置供电。通过一个小型集成电路、一个小型传感器阵列和超高效的磁性人体通信技术，整个平台将是一次性的，可持续使用数周。记录的数据将通过无线方式传输到智能手机/智能手表应用程序，该应用程序可以在庞大而多样化的用户空间中收集数据，用于人口健康分析。在规模上，该设备预计将花费0.10美元，因此不仅可以在美国使用，而且可以在整个发展中国家使用。通过以匿名形式聚合来自许多用户的自愿数据，开发的应用程序将具有流行病学应用，并有助于说明地方，国家和国际地理区域的可能感染率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The world is currently vastly underprepared to deal with viral pandemics such as COVID-19. Testing kits around the world are in short supply, and since symptoms are so similar to other common infections such as influenza and the common cold, short testing supplies means doctors will only administer tests to patients who fit very specific symptoms – leaving others in the dark as to whether they are infected. This causes an unknown number of people – many who may be infected, to potentially spread the virus to others. The world desperately needs a way to quantitatively triage individuals who are at high risk of carrying COVID-19 based on more than just their self-reported symptoms. In addition, those who are infected and are quarantining at home have no way of knowing how they are progressing in their recovery and/or if their symptoms are sufficient to warrant hospitalization (before it may be too late). All of this is true not just for COVID-19, but for any future viral infection that may take the world by storm. Thus, even if COVID-19 tests eventually become available in large quantities, the technology developed in this program will still be useful to help self-triage and self-monitor subjects in future viral outbreaks. The purpose of this RAPID project is to research and develop wearable platform technology that can be used to monitor patients, in real time, to determine their likelihood of currently being infected, and if they are infected, how their recovery process is coming along. This will be accomplished via a hybrid wearable device that simultaneously monitors body temperature for fever detection, and respiration function for coughing and shortness of breath measures. Importantly, the technology to be researched and developed herein will be engineered from the ground up to be extremely low power, such that the device can be powered via energy harvesting means without a battery. Implemented with a small integrated circuit, a small sensor array, and ultra-efficient magnetic human body communication technology, the entire platform will be disposable and last for weeks. Recorded data will be wirelessly delivered to a smartphone/smartwatch app, which can collect data across a large and diverse user space for population health analysis. At scale, the device is expected to cost $0.10 USD, and thus could be used not only in the United States, but across the developing world. By aggregating volunteered data in an anonymous format from many users, the developed app will have epidemiologic applications, and help to illustrate likely infection rates across local, national, and international geographies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.