{"id":282,"date":"2019-10-15T18:36:57","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T18:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allabouttheproduct.com\/blog\/?p=282"},"modified":"2020-03-09T09:52:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T09:52:03","slug":"pollution-guardian-roadside-experimentation-together-with-the-university-of-surrey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allabouttheproduct.com\/blog\/iot\/pollution-guardian-roadside-experimentation-together-with-the-university-of-surrey\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollution Guardian: roadside experimentation together with the University of Surrey"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first activities together with the University of Surrey\u2019 Global Centre for Clean Air Research<\/a>, led by Professor Prashant Kumar<\/a>, was to join a live field campaign to measure the air pollution next to Stoke Road in Guildford, Surrey. The University of Surrey\u2019s campaign measured roadside (pavement) air pollution using both high-end specialised air pollution instrumentation along with more affordable devices.<\/p>\n

Stoke Road can be a busy road at peak times and is closely connected to the A3 slip road for London and the South East as well as the direct connecting route to the nearby town of Woking.<\/p>\n

\"Traffic<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 1: Stoke Road during a morning rush hour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The setup involved measuring the air pollution at a height of approximately 1.5meters above the pavement, a comparable height for pedestrians breathing in roadside air. Thus the need to brush off some old woodwork skills and create a container and support platform for our units.<\/p>\n

\"Bird<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 2: “bird table” box for holding pollution guardian units<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why measure pollution on Stoke Road? There is a children\u2019s playground right next to Stoke Road, so monitoring pollution levels there is of real interest and also the University has a co-located air pollution measurement station, using sensors from the iSCAPE project<\/a>. With the support from the Guildford Borough Council, this site is being continuously used by GCARE team as a part of their iSCAPE\u2019s Guildford Living Lab<\/a> activities.<\/p>\n

Now whilst we are designing the Pollution Guardian for measurements in the car, it was of some interest to us to obtain an early view of how our own \u201cCP1\u201d version prototypes performed compared to the specialised air pollution equipment made by GRIMM<\/a> and more expensive particulate material testers such as Dylos<\/a> devices.<\/p>\n

\"stoke<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 3: Roadside setup next to Stoke Road<\/strong><\/p>\n

What were the learnings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good results are possible for fine particulate matter (PM2.5<\/sub>) measurement:<\/p>\n