A MATTER OF DEGREES

As we enter “the new normal,” temperature detection systems and signage may become important elements of compliance and liability for businesses.

A MATTER

OF DEGREES

By Richard Romano

Anew signage category that has emerged since the onset of the COVID19 pandemic is “temperature-taking signage.”

Back in our August issue, I wrote about TempDefend, a “Protection as a Service (PaaS)” system from 22Miles. Another player that has appeared in this space is Altoros (www.altoros. com), a 20-year-old consultancy and professional IT services and software provider. Altoros has launched Mass Fever Screener, a combination of artifi cial intelligence (AI) cameras and Altoros-developed software designed to facilitate prevention of the COVID19. The thermal camera scans people entering a building or other location (up to 30 people can be screened

simultaneously), determines their temperature (with an accuracy of ±0.3°C/±0.6°F), and, if they are above an acceptable level, the system will alert security or whoever has been designated the responsible party, who then implements whatever policies specify what is to be done with an employee, customer or visitor who has been found to have an elevated temperature.

According to Andrei Yurkevich, CTO for Altoros, one of the gaps in the market for temperature-screening systems that Altoros saw was that there was no system that could orchestrate several cameras or be installed in multiple entrances.

Another gap in the market is data collection, which Mass Fever Screener integrates.

“Where we’ve seen a need is in developing a system where it will be possible to collect historical data about people who enter the building,” Yurkevich said. “Most likely there will be some compliance requirements for organizations to track their employees or their visitors.”

And it may be necessary to track statistics over time.

“There was no tool to collect the statistics in an automated way,” Yurkevich said, “and to see how the numbers changed over time. How many people with elevated temperatures did you have last month, last week, now? The core of the system is reporting the details about how safe the environment is.”

Altoros started with the thermal cameras and the software, but as they saw additional needs arise, they started adding additional modules, including one that provides UV-based disinfecting. Another module helps enforce mask compliance. That is, the AI-based camera can determine if people who enter the location are wearing a mask or not, and, if not, trigger whatever action has been programmed (alert security, etc.). The system can also determine if the mask is being worn correctly (i.e., above the nostrils). What about a mask that is itself a face? For example, WhatTheyThink contributor Mary Schilling printed masks with the faces of WTT’s Adam Dewitz and Eric Vessels on them. Could the system tell the difference between a real face and a printed face?

“That’s interesting,” Yurkevich said. “That’s actually a question of training the model with deep learning. If we could train the model that there was a mask and it’s not a face it’s a mask, then

Most likely over time, the system will be able to tell the difference between a real face mask and a printed face mask.

Read More… Find article at PrintingNews. com/21143893 most likely over time, the system will be able to discern that it’s a mask.”

That’s one example, but you get the idea of how AI and machine learning can be used to train the system to track what it is you’re trying to track without flagging a lot of false negatives.

Most of the systems that Altoros sells are customized solutions for individual customers, but to the extent that there is a “box,” what customers get “out of the box” is the camera, a network video receiver (NVR), and router that connects to cloud storage via a VPN, as all videos are stored in the cloud, although in some special cases video can be stored locally. For privacy and security reasons, customers need to obtain their own cloud storage accounts. The system can be monitored via a browser on any desktop or laptop computer.

The Altoros system can also be installed on entrance kiosks, so that those entering the building can see in real time their thermal status.

“You will have either a green light or a red light where you will need to have a secondary inspection,” Yurkevich said.

The system can be integrated with other entrance systems, dynamic digital signage or even other personnel management systems. It can also use face recognition to match employees entering the building to images stored in an HR system, but that may require those employees to sign their consent that the facial recognition is being used at the entrance.

The customer base for Mass Fever Screener has come from the hospitality industry, especially cruise lines, as well as schools and manufacturing facilities.

Thus far in the pandemic, we have (quite rightly) focused on health and safety, but as more businesses reopen, legal issues, especially surrounding compliance and liability, will likely play a greater role, and systems like Mass Fever Screener can help with compliance and liability concerns—and even give businesses a competitive edge.

Depending on the state, or even country, mask mandates vary in strictness (or even basic existence), but the Altoros system can help demonstrate mask compliance. And then there is liability.

“The system helps decrease the legal liabilities, to ensure that the business is applying the best effort to protect people who enter and stay on the premises,” Yurkevich said.

It has yet to be seen how insurance companies are going to change their policies in the wake of the pandemic (but one can take a guess), but Yurkevich feels that installing such a system may help decrease a business’ insurance premiums—or at least mitigate any significant increase.

And then there is just instilling comfort and security in potential customers, especially in the hospitality industry, if they can demonstrate, said Yurkevich, “the likelihood of having an outbreak at this hotel is decreased.” That can also give these kinds of locations an edge over the competition.

These concerns are now what businesses are going to have to contend with in “the new normal.” And systems like Altoros’ Mass Fever Screener can help address these concerns. ●

Richard Romano has been writing about the graphic communications industry for 20 years. He is an industry analyst and author or coauthor of more than half a dozen books.