From Do-It-Yourself to Do-It-Together
Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental and health threats we face today. Among all pollutants, fine particulate matters (PM2.5, particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less) are directly related to various serious health concerns. Studies have found an association between long-term PM2.5 exposure and various serious health concerns such as lung cancer and premature death. People may be able to choose healthy sources of food and water , but they have no choice but to accept poor quality air for breathing to survive. However, the preparedness and response of citizens have been limited. This underlines the importance of a stable and reliable air quality monitoring solution. A perfect solution should be able to provide the public with an opportunity to voluntarily participate in science.
In conventional PM2.5 monitoring approaches, extremely professional, large, and expensive monitoring stations are deployed across countries or regions. They are usually operated by the local environmental protection agency (EPA). Since the deployment cost is high (over $50K), it is not possible to deploy professional monitoring stations in every neighborhood.
Over the years, “citizen science” has become a hot topic. Community participation in scientific research has been used in environment monitoring in many fields. In the past few years, there are many studies that have utilized citizen science to successfully increase public awareness and understanding of air quality and noise issues.
When it comes to air quality monitoring, most of the citizen science activities rely on wireless sensing technology. Benefiting from advancements in wireless sensing technology, the deployment of low-cost air quality sensors has been possible. An Internet of Things (IoT) air quality monitoring device is about $200. Its easy installation and maintenance features provide a solution to build a large-scale real-time air quality monitoring system. Several smart cities around the world have deployed the system, includingAmsterdam, Chicago, Darmstadt, and Taipei.
The AirBox Project began in Taiwan and focused on PM2.5 monitoring with a pilot deployment of IoT systems. The goal of the AirBox project is to motivate people to voluntarily participate in PM2.5 sensing. At the very beginning, a group including researchers, makers, and citizens developed the first generation low-cost IoT PM2.5 monitoring device. Then they built a platform for people to engage and participate in PM2.5 sensing with open data and visualization plots. With more and more communities joining, the number of online AirBox devices all over the world has almost more than 11,000 in March 2020.
Here is a great example of what the data from the AirBox device was used for. Since AirBox devices can be deployed easily and cost affordable. Most of the elementary schools in Taiwan have deployed these devices. Therefore, school teachers can use the most up-to-date air quality data to determine whether it is suitable for outdoor activities.
