Clean air is vital to the health of people and the environment. Air pollution can be hard to notice day-to-day, and often, change isn’t enacted until it’s too late. Especially in the case of PM2.5, very small particles enter the lungs and bloodstream without the detection of those who breathe it in. This can cause health problems and even death, especially for children.
To combat this issue, a team from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (FEEIT) in North Macedonia has collaborated with the Center for Technology Transfer and Innovations to create a sensor system to test air quality.
The team’s first phase was to ensure that they used the best sensor possible for their project, testing different sensors and their PM deliverables.
The team will design housing for the sensors and hardware such as the power supply. They will build sensor devices to track pollution. The devices use ThingSpeak Internet of Things for data logging. An LED screen will display the data the sensors receive to raise awareness in the community, particularly around schools.
To test the device, the team will build a particle generator.
The team hopes to use their data to provide information on a wider scale to the community about air pollution in the area.
This project was made possible by $8,645.00 in funding from the Instrumentation and Measurement Society (IMS), an EPICS in IEEE partner.