A smart mask to enforce social contracts based on IOTA Tangle

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Public Health
• Control Engineering

Background:

• Airborne viruses like COVID-19 pose significant public health risks.
• Effective mitigation strategies require robust compliance mechanisms.
• Existing solutions lack integrated, privacy-preserving compliance enforcement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel smart-mask design for mitigating airborne virus transmission.
• To leverage distributed ledger technology for pseudo-anonymous compliance enforcement.
• To validate the smart-mask prototype's efficacy through simulation.

Main Methods:

• Design of a smart-mask incorporating feedback control theory.
• Utilization of the IOTA distributed ledger for secure data management.
• Hardware-in-the-loop simulations with indoor positioning.
• Monte-Carlo simulations to assess prototype performance.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the feasibility of a smart-mask system.
• Validated the effectiveness of distributed ledger for compliance.
• Quantified the system's performance in simulated environments.
• Showcased pseudo-anonymous enforcement capabilities.

Conclusions:

• The proposed smart-mask design offers a promising approach to airborne virus mitigation.
• Distributed ledger technology can enhance public health compliance systems.
• Simulation results support the practical application of the smart-mask prototype.