CoronaSense

The Problem

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had the largest global impact in history with far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease itself. This airborne virus, has caused up to now more than 48 Million confirmed cases and more than 1,2M deaths worldwide, while governments around the world have imposed strict containment measures in an effort to limit the spread of the virus to such levels that the healthcare system is able to sustain. These measures, however, have significant consequences to the economy, while fears of the largest global depression in history are at large. At the same time, governments around the world are faced with an unprecedented tradeoff between a possible economic collapse due to containment measures and the increasing fatalities if the measures are stopped. In such critical times, this economic impact and all problems related to the containment measures would have been mitigated, if a way existed to actively control the spreading of the virus within a “normally” operating community.

Indoor Air Quality Importance

Poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has been proven to act as an enabling mechanism for airborne virous spreading while it is one of the most frequent reasons for respiratory and cardiovascular health problems that render people susceptible to significant complications after their infection with the virus. Automated assessment of the IAQ and identification of high-risk areas is detrimental in order for the necessary corrective measures to be taken. Especially for highly infectious airborne viruses such as the COVID-19 virus, a real time mechanism for spatial and temporal IAQ analysis and estimation is an essential part for the control of the virus spreading.

Project Objectives

The CoronaSense team has been working on the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) monitoring challenge for the last eight years, producing several high-impact peer-reviewed journal publications and software. The overall objective of the project is to develop and bring to the market an innovative software to assess in real-time the IAQ specifically for conditions that enable the spread of COVID-19 in large public indoor spaces. This will enable the proactive minimization of the spreading risk of the virus and the minimization of the overall effects of poor IAQ on occupant’s health. As part of this project, the company LELANTUS INNOVATIONS LTD, will coordinate the development of a minimum viable business product, its validation in an operational environment, and the evaluation of its commercialization potential with early adopters and potential investors.