Mobile Station for Air Quality Mapping Sensor Network

David Nuno Gomes da Silva Simão Quelhas

Key information

Authors:

David Nuno Gomes da Silva Simão Quelhas (David Nuno Gomes da Silva Simão Quelhas)

Supervisors:

Francisco André Corrêa Alegria (Francisco André Corrêa Alegria)

Published in

11/11/2011

Abstract

There are many ways to measure air pollution, based on chemical and physical methods. Most systems of measuring air quality actually in cites rely on fixed stations with the appropriate sensors and instrumentation to measure the air quality. These stations determine the pollution in the particular area where they are installed, and usually rely on methods of measurement that are somehow expensive. The stations for instance usually have dimensions that are not appropriate to change its geographical position. The aim of this work is to develop a mobile system, not too expensive, to be placed on the top of buses or taxis, making it possible to measure air quality in wide areas. The measurements are made through several sensors, the time and geographical position of the measurement is obtained through GPS (Global Positioning System), and the data collected from the station is transmitted to a central station through the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network, or can be download from a nearby computer through the IEEE 802.11 (WIFI). This system also opens the possibility for creating geographical maps with the air quality information represented on the map, due to the wide area coverage than can be achieved by portable autonomous air quality monitoring stations.