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Epidose: Exposure notification for all
2020-11-21, 18:00–18:30 (Europe/Athens), Κύρια Αίθουσα Ομιλιών
Language: el

Epidose is an open source software reference implementation for an epidemic dosimeter. Just as a radiation dosimeter measures dose uptake of external ionizing radiation, the epidemic dosimeter tracks potential exposure to viruses or bacteria associated with an epidemic. The dosimeter measures a person's exposure to an epidemic, such as COVID-19, based on exposure to contacts that have been tested positive. The epidemic dosimeter is designed to be widely accessible and to safeguard privacy. Specifically, it is designed to run on the $10 open-hardware Raspberry Pi Zero-W computer, with a minimal user interface, comprising LED indicators regarding operation and exposure risk and a physical interlock switch to allow the release of contact data. The software is based on the DP3T contact tracing "unlinkable" design and corresponding reference implementation code.


Epidose is an open source software
reference implementation for an epidemic dosimeter.
Just as a radiation dosimeter
measures dose uptake of external ionizing
radiation, the epidemic dosimeter tracks potential exposure to viruses
or bacteria associated with an epidemic.
The dosimeter measures a person's exposure to an epidemic, such as COVID-19,
based on exposure to contacts that have been tested positive.
The epidemic dosimeter is designed to be widely accessible
and to safeguard privacy.
Specifically, it is designed to run on the $10 open-hardware
Raspberry Pi Zero-W
computer, with a minimal user interface, comprising LED indicators
regarding operation and exposure risk
and a physical interlock switch to allow the release of contact data.
The software is based on the DP3T
contact tracing "unlinkable" design and corresponding reference implementation
code, gratefully acknowledging the team's amazing work.

Contact tracing via smartphone apps has been widely touted as an important
way to control and limit the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.
However, basing contact-tracing on phone apps has several limitations.
According to market reports,
while in higher income countries smartphone penetration is over 60%, in
lower income ones it drops significantly, even to less than 20%.
Even in higher income countries, smartphone penetration declines significantly
with increased age
and reduced income.
Also, Bluetooth-based contact tracing apps may not be able to run on
older smartphone models, and many fear compromised privacy when running
such an app on their phone.
Contact tracing app solutions benefit only those using them by flagging
at an early stage one at risk.
Therefore, older people who are usually less accustomed to technology
(and also run greater risks) and less privileged society members are
at a disadvantage.

Exposure tracking solutions can only be successful if adopted by a
significant percentage of the population.
In lower income regions and countries
(which could be
devastated by COVID-19),
smartphone-based solutions are unlikely to be effective due to a lack
of critical mass.
The epidemic dosimeter addresses the above limitations.

Given its low cost and simplicity (a single LED indicator),
the epidemic dosimeter can be easily and affordably deployed to
lower income countries and marginalized parts of a population
serving billions.
Its resemblance to existing diagnostic devices,
and the ability to distribute it without exchanging documentation
can also allay the fears of those who worry about the privacy implications
of phone apps.
By extension, its existence will also increase the acceptance
of comparable phone apps.

For more details see the Epidose GitHub repository.

See also: Presentation slides

Diomidis Spinellis
— @CollSWeng on Twitter —
is a Professor in the
Department of Management Science and Technology
at the
Athens University of Economics and Business,
Greece.
His research interests include software engineering, IT security, and
cloud systems engineering.
He has written two award-winning, widely-translated books:
Code Reading and
Code Quality: The Open Source Perspective.
His most recent book is
Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems.
Dr.
Spinellis has also published
more than 300 technical papers in journals
and refereed conference proceedings, which have received more than
9000 citations.
He served for a decade as a member of the
IEEE Software
editorial board,
authoring the regular “Tools of the Trade”
column, and
as the magazine's Editor-in-Chief over the period 2015–2018.
He has contributed code that ships with Apple’s macOS and BSD Unix and
is the developer of git-issue,
CScout,
UMLGraph,
dgsh, and
other open-source software packages,
libraries, and tools.
He holds an MEng in Software Engineering and a PhD in Computer Science,
both from Imperial College London.
Dr. Spinellis is a senior member of the ACM and the IEEE.
In a previous life he was four times winner of the International Obfuscated C Code Contest.
Nowadays he tries to keep his code boring.