A Microcontroller-based RFID Record Tracker for COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Covid-19, also known as coronavirus disease 2019, is a highly contagious disease primarily transmitted through respiratory droplets. To mitigate the spread of the virus, the Malaysia government have implemented measures such as MySejahtera app for contact tracking purposes. The ‘Check-in’ feature is the core element in MySejahtera app where users will scan a QR code prior to entering a premise. However, it has some drawbacks in which a phone with internet connectivity and working camera are needed to scan the QR code. To overcome the limitations and ease the burden on the public, this paper proposes a RFID record tracker based on Atmel ATmega328P and NodeMCU ESP-12E technology as a complementary function to the ‘Check-in’ feature offered by MySejahtera. It has a RFID reader and built-in temperature sensor. It is ideally visualized to be sharing the same database with MySejahtera. This solution can be connected to the WiFi of the premise, thus the public just have to bring their Malaysian IC or relative RFID tag along with them. Once scanned, the system will crosscheck with the connected database to check their vaccination status and determine whether to grant access for them to enter the premise. At the same time, their record will be logged into associated database of the premise as well. All in all, this solution is designed in hopes to reduce the burden on public while easing the process of contact tracing.