Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network Functionalities

<italic>Goal:</italic> The purpose of this article is to introduce a new strategy to identify areas with high human density and mobility, which are at risk for spreading COVID-19. Crowded regions with actively moving people (called <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><itali...

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Main Authors: Alaa A. R. Alsaeedy, Edwin K. P. Chong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2020-01-01
Series:IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9117073/
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author Alaa A. R. Alsaeedy
Edwin K. P. Chong
author_facet Alaa A. R. Alsaeedy
Edwin K. P. Chong
author_sort Alaa A. R. Alsaeedy
collection DOAJ
description <italic>Goal:</italic> The purpose of this article is to introduce a new strategy to identify areas with high human density and mobility, which are at risk for spreading COVID-19. Crowded regions with actively moving people (called <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions) are susceptible to spreading the disease, especially if they contain asymptomatic infected people together with healthy people. <italic>Methods:</italic> Our scheme identifies <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions using existing cellular network functionalities&#x2014;<italic>handover</italic> and <italic>cell (re)selection&#x2014;used to maintain seamless coverage for mobile end-user equipment (UE)</italic>. The frequency of <italic>handover</italic> and <italic>cell (re)selection</italic> events is highly reflective of the density of mobile people in the area because virtually everyone carries UEs. <italic>Results:</italic> These measurements, which are accumulated over very many UEs, allow us to identify the <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions without compromising the privacy and anonymity of individuals. <italic>Conclusions:</italic> The inferred <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions can then be subjected to further monitoring and risk mitigation.
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spelling doaj-art-c2db0255412e4bf0bfa3cd50b42e27cb2025-08-20T03:15:15ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology2644-12762020-01-01118718910.1109/OJEMB.2020.30024479117073Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network FunctionalitiesAlaa A. R. Alsaeedy0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7300-7308Edwin K. P. Chong1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7622-4815Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA<italic>Goal:</italic> The purpose of this article is to introduce a new strategy to identify areas with high human density and mobility, which are at risk for spreading COVID-19. Crowded regions with actively moving people (called <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions) are susceptible to spreading the disease, especially if they contain asymptomatic infected people together with healthy people. <italic>Methods:</italic> Our scheme identifies <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions using existing cellular network functionalities&#x2014;<italic>handover</italic> and <italic>cell (re)selection&#x2014;used to maintain seamless coverage for mobile end-user equipment (UE)</italic>. The frequency of <italic>handover</italic> and <italic>cell (re)selection</italic> events is highly reflective of the density of mobile people in the area because virtually everyone carries UEs. <italic>Results:</italic> These measurements, which are accumulated over very many UEs, allow us to identify the <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions without compromising the privacy and anonymity of individuals. <italic>Conclusions:</italic> The inferred <italic/><bold>at-risk</bold><italic/> regions can then be subjected to further monitoring and risk mitigation.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9117073/COVID-19infectious diseasestracking
spellingShingle Alaa A. R. Alsaeedy
Edwin K. P. Chong
Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network Functionalities
IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology
COVID-19
infectious diseases
tracking
title Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network Functionalities
title_full Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network Functionalities
title_fullStr Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network Functionalities
title_full_unstemmed Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network Functionalities
title_short Detecting Regions At Risk for Spreading COVID-19 Using Existing Cellular Wireless Network Functionalities
title_sort detecting regions at risk for spreading covid 19 using existing cellular wireless network functionalities
topic COVID-19
infectious diseases
tracking
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9117073/
work_keys_str_mv AT alaaaralsaeedy detectingregionsatriskforspreadingcovid19usingexistingcellularwirelessnetworkfunctionalities
AT edwinkpchong detectingregionsatriskforspreadingcovid19usingexistingcellularwirelessnetworkfunctionalities