Ever wondered how the BCCI ensures a secure bio-bubble for players from India and England during the ongoing tour? SenseGiz, a Belgaum, Karnataka-based start-up, that specialises in IoT (Internet of Things) solutions, is the answer.
The startup's unique contact-tracing sports technology solution 'SenseGiz Sentinel Platform' is a virtual bio-bubble solution that can be deployed at any sporting event. It keeps all players, support staff, match officials and others involved safe within a dedicated zone. The IoT-based solution has unique features such as historic contact-tracing, geo-fencing, overcrowding, and real-time alerts on social distancing violations.
The recently concluded India-England Test Series used this solution. It was deployed at Chennai for the first two Tests and then at Ahmedabad for the remainder of the series. The solution has also been deployed at the Road Safety World Series (RSWS), a six-nation international T20 Cricket tournament in Raipur.
The solution was developed keeping certain challenges in mind. “There is always a challenge of cancellation of cricket matches due to bio-bubble failure owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. There are also chances of recurring Covid-19 outbreaks, inaccurate data or false alerts from bio-bubble and absence of restricted zones for players, support staff and hotel staff leading to violations.,” explained Abhishek Latthe, founder and CEO of SenseGiz Technologies.
All the players have to first register themselves and then each player or support staff is assigned a unique ‘FIND’ device. These devices are connected to the cloud and give real-time alerts on all violations and share reports on contact-tracing in case any player is detected for Covid-19. The solution operates like a hub-and-spoke architecture to create a biosecure environment. FIND device, used as a wristband, is a bluetooth-enabled IoT device that is tagged to each player within the bio-bubble and can enforce social-distancing between its users. A combination of other hardware devices communicate and push this critical data retrieved from the FIND devices to the cloud, and helps enforce social distancing and historical contact-tracing in real-time so that only the infected users and their immediate contacts can be isolated or quarantined.
A technology-driven bio-bubble includes the accommodation of all the players in the same hotel or resort. Under the bio-bubble, players are not allowed outside the bubble, except the resort or hotel, team buses and the stadium, so that they are kept isolated from the general public. The bio-bubble solution involved getting real-time data on violations and involves detailed historical contact-tracing.
It also helps in the creation of restricted zones based on their profiles and prevents overcrowding at key areas. It also helps in the frequent screening and testing during the event.
Devices are installed across all locations within the hotel, which helps the company identify social-distancing violations. The unique 'FIND' devices are allocated and handed over to all players, officials and support staff upon arrival. Geo-fencing and overcrowding is set for specific locations and social distancing violations are monitored from a central command center.
“If any player tests positive for Covid-19, we can access a detailed historical contact-tracing report and identify contacts that need to be quarantined as precaution helping in complete safety of players. A bio-bubble is created at the stadium dressing rooms, match officials room, commentators area, etc. Devices are installed at the stadium to help us identify social distancing violations. The bio-bubble is also created within moving buses which takes the players from the hotel to the stadium and back. Gateways are installed inside the bus to relay real time data to the command center," added Latthe.
