a group of researchers created an app that can act as a thermometer using just a smartphone, without the need to add new hardware. When put to the test, it showed comparable accuracy to some consumer thermometers.
Experts from the University of Washington are behind this innovation. According to a published note on the website, the name of the app is ‘FeverPhone’ and use the touch screen of the user’s mobile phone. How exactly does it work?
Since smartphones have thermistors (sensors found in commonly used thermometers that measure temperature), the researchers decided to use them to monitor heat transfer between a person and a phone.
“The phone’s touchscreen can detect skin contact with the phone, and thermistors can measure air temperature and heat gain when the phone touches a body,” they add.
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The app was tested on 37 people and the results were positive: it has an accuracy similar to that of conventional thermometers.
“The FeverPhone estimated the patient’s core body temperature with an average error of about 0.41 degrees Fahrenheit (0.23 degrees Celsius), which is within the clinically acceptable range of 0.5 C,” they say.
Joseph Breda, lead author of ‘FirePhone‘ and Paul G. Allen, a PhD student in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, noted that the project started while he was in his undergraduate studies. “I was doing research in a lab where we wanted to show that you can use a temperature sensor on a smartphone to measure air temperature,” he said.
Source: Exame
