DigiKey’s Internal Contact Tracing Solution

Contact tracing has been a pillar of communicable disease control in public health for decades. It refers to the process of identifying persons who may have come into contact with an infected person and subsequent collection of further information about these contacts. And when DigiKey decided to implement a solution in our warehouse locations, it was based on extensive testing, comparing different technologies, and addressing the pros and cons of different solutions.

The Option NV Bluetooth LoRa Sensor Badge. (Image source: Option NV)

DigiKey’s contact tracing deployment involved Option NV part numbers 1010066 and GWB10008. It is a solution that goes directly from the LoRa network to the application software and can be used to track contact events and time anonymously. Privacy is of utmost importance, both in the security of the system and data, but also in ensuring the system cannot track any personal information. This includes names, location, and activity. It is used solely for contact tracing should there be an event when an employee tests positive.

Using these LoRa products alleviates the need for data plans and cellular networks. The use of LoRa also alleviates bandwidth limitations by managing thousands of moving contacts on WiFi and provides significant power savings vs. WiFi options. Another perk is that the badges are rechargeable. In our application, the user only needs to charge their badge on average once a week. Over time, this is a large cost saving over single-use devices.

The range of technology is dependent on the environment, but the LoRa badges have been demonstrated to work over several hundred meters indoors. The technology can be set up for redundancy and communication in multiple buildings and sites. DigiKey’s initial deployment was small, around 150 badges. After proving it out, we quickly expanded to over 1,500, deploying those in less than 3 days. The fast time and ease of implementation are key to a successful deployment as well as the availability to expand exponentially if needed. The system needs to be flexible, with the ability to manage any number of connections, update firmware over the air, and be usable for other applications moving forward. Whether it is using the tags for other purposes after contact tracing or adding different devices and sensors to the network to bring new capabilities to a smart business.