# Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Signal Strength Estimation to Facilitate Contact Tracing for COVID-19

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.15711 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.15711/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 28 Jun 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [A Machine Learning Approach to Digital Contact Tracing: TC4TL Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.04307/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The process of contact tracing to reduce the spread of highly infectious and life-threatening diseases has traditionally been a primarily manual process managed by public health entities. This process becomes challenged when faced with a pandemic of the proportions of SARS-CoV2. Digital contact tracing has been proposed as way to augment manual contact tracing and lends itself to widely proliferated devices such as cell phones and wearables. This paper describes a method and analysis of determining whether two cell phones, carried by humans, were in persistent contact of no more than 6 feet over 15 minutes using Bluetooth Low Energy signals. The paper describes the approach to detecting these signals, as well as a data-driven performance analysis showing that larger numbers of samples coupled with privacy preserving auxiliary information improves detection performance.