OEFIT, News, Corona Warn App Detektor
Kompetenzzentrum Öffentliche IT (ÖFIT)

Corona warning app detector: programming a microcontroller

News from Mar. 26, 2021

Digital contact tracking such as the Corona warning app is an everyday companion in the pandemic. With the Corona Warning App Detector, the Competence Center Public IT (ÖFIT) offers interested citizens a practical discussion of the much-discussed technology and thus enables a better assessment of the effectiveness and the consequences of use of digital everyday companions.

Be it purely out of interest or to reduce uncertainty: It can be helpful in various everyday situations to be able to understand the spread of corona warning apps. This clarifies: Do people in my area actually use the app, for example when shopping in a supermarket, on public transport, in waiting areas or in similar situations?

The Corona Warning App (CWA) has become a central digital aid in times of the pandemic. Nevertheless, its impact on contact tracing usually remains invisible to individual users - unless it warns of potentially dangerous contact in the past. This invisibility has an impact on the classification and evaluation of the app.

A lack of understanding of the technical mechanisms of the Corona warning app can lead to uncertainty and mistrust. Against the background of media criticism, this is even more important in terms of usefulness and effectiveness. A general problem becomes apparent: high expectations of technical problem solutions on the one hand and the lack of sufficient digital skills on the other hand create an all too favorable breeding ground for the spread of uncertainty.

The Corona Warning App Detector (CWA detector) can be set up and put into operation in just a few steps. ÖFIT provides several building instructions for different variants of a CWA detector. The different variants make it possible to tinker your own CWA detector in an individually adapted procedure and, if you are interested, to use it for a general introduction to the programming of microcontrollers. In use, the detector enables an “X-ray view” of actually invisible technical processes. The Corona warning app detector demonstrates the benefits of the Corona warning app.