The potential of iot-based smart environment in reaction to covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 was first reported in late December 2019 and quickly become a global health crisis. In the COVID-19 pandemic context, the dense and open characteristics make the public spaces a potential virus transmission hotspot. Therefore, it is extremely critical to adopt a more advanced and effective method in public environments to slow down its spread until a vaccine is widely used. A smart environment in the form of IoT, also known as the architecture of IoT, consists of three layers: perception layer, network layer, and application layer. A smart environment allows data and activities that happen in this environment to be collected, processed, and shared in real-time through various sensors. It can be introduced for early detection, tracking, and monitoring of potential confirmed cases. The smart environment is considered one of the most promising approaches to face and tackle the current scenario. However, research focusing on the potential of IoT smart environment in reaction to COVID-19 is still meager. Therefore, this paper identifies the smart environment's potential based on the concept of IoT architecture's three layers and further discusses how IoT can be introduced in public spaces to help battle the pandemic.