Contact Tracing for Healthcare Facilities Using Bluetooth

Bluetooth is seen as a key technology for contact tracing and exposure notification applications, with the goal of monitoring and containing outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the use of contact tracing apps has been limited among the population as the technology still faces fundamental limits in terms of proximity accuracy, resources, and privacy. Still, the potential benefits are evident for scenarios such as critical healthcare facilities, where most vulnerable people are present. The aim of this chapter is to present an architecture with heterogeneous devices that support contact tracing and exposure notification in hospitals and nursing homes, while meeting the required level of accuracy and privacy. The framework is based on standard Bluetooth mesh networking technology, and it accounts for realistic propagation conditions. The impact of configuration parameters and channel conditions is analyzed, along with proposals for research and standardization directions.