Blockchain and Palm Scanning Integrated System (BPIS) for Workplace Access Control and Contact Tracing

Authors

  • Pengdi Zhao LIIDR Insight Lab, University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  • Yu Zhang School of Business, University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  • Elizabeth Chang School of Business, University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Abstract


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has generated a worldwide threat in terms of healthcare, commerce and social problems. To effectively control the virus spreading, contact tracing has shown its effectiveness in quickly locating all the close contacts of the confirmed cases. However, most existing contact tracing systems for tracking staff and visitors in working areas such as offices, hotels, factories, mining camps and so forth, cannot provide a Contactless, Real-time, Tamper-resistant and Ready-to-share (CRTR) contact profiling service at the entrance and exit access points of the workplace. Lacking this CRTR in contact tracing could lead to delay in locating the close contacts, invasion of user privacy, and inefficient communication with other parties such as government, hospitals and health centres in terms of virus test and quarantine arrangements. To address
this issue, this paper designs a novel access control system, namely Blockchain and Palm Scanning Integrated System (BPIS), which leverages the blockchain and Infrared Palm Vein Print (IPVP) verification technology to control the access to enclosed working areas and record the time interval of everyone staying inside. It can assist in identifying and determining the close contacts once there are COVID-19 positive cases inside the area. In the proposed BPIS, the IPVP is applied to control unit access due to its contactless nature, high security, and accuracy, while the blockchain enables keeping records of individual’s movements and create contact profiles for real-time monitoring, detecting and sharing, based on smart contracts. The advantages of BPIS lie in its unique CRTR service, and once there are any COVID-19 positive test cases in the working places equipped with the BPIS,
the system will be able to immediately locate all the close contacts according to the time intersection with the confirmed cases, thus improving the tracking efficiency and preventing the spread of the virus.

Keywords: Blockchain, Palm vein recognition, Entrance/exit access system, Enclosed working place, Contact tracing system

Cite As

P. Zhao, Y. Zhang, E. Chang, "Blockchain and Palm Scanning Integrated System (BPIS) for Workplace Access Control and
Contact Tracing", Engineering Intelligent Systems, vol. 29 no. 6, pp. 353-361, 2021.




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Published

2021-11-01

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 6 (2021): International Journal of Engineering Intelligent Systems

Section

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