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Concept Paper

MARS Glass: A Smart Personal Protective Wearable

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Muthucumaru Maheswaran^*,

Maiuri Maheswaran^*

Muthucumaru Maheswaran^*,

Maiuri Maheswaran^*

This version is not peer-reviewed

This preprints belongs to the Collection

Preprints on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2

Submitted:

11 July 2020

Posted:

12 July 2020

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Abstract

Wearable computing is a fast evolving segment of computing that includes smart watches, head mounted wearables such as Magic Leap headsets, Microsoft Hololens, and VR goggles from various vendors. In this report, we present ideas for a smart wearable device that also doubles as a virus protection device. Instead of using the filtering approach that is predominantly used by virus protection equipments such as face masks, we propose to use a computational approach where the device maintains an awareness of the real-time virus spread and use that information to steer the wearer away from the virus. As the wearable has a head enclosing design, viral infection can only happen through the air that is inhaled by the wearer. The objective of the smart wearable is to maintain a repository for clean air and switch the operating modes between stored and fresh air modes depending on the environmental conditions. It can augment this basic operating procedure by recycling the exhaled air to maximize it operating capacity (i.e., time duration for which it could supply the wearer with safe air) and by cleaning the stored air using UVC to further reduces the chance of infection. To maintain an awareness of the virus spread in the environment, the smart wearable will rely on an edge computing framework that will be distributed to cover areas frequented by people. The smart wearable will have modular design so that it can be reconfigured to add or subtract functionality that the wearer wants for a particular situation so that the design remains relevant even after the virus threat recedes.

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Subject: Medicine and Pharmacology - Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

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