By Capri Granville | March 20, 2021
Because COVID-19 is transmitted as an airborne disease, being able to detect when people have symptoms from a distance is important. One approach, taken by a group of PhD students from the University of Southern Australia (UniSA) and led by their professor, Javaan Chahl, makes use of specialized drones to check symptoms from more than 10 meters away, measuring heart rate, breathing, temperature, and even when a person coughs or sneezes. Working together with Draganfly, the world’s oldest drone manufacturer, the team has been working with the drones since March 2020, just a few months after COVID-19 appeared on the scene.