Collecting Information about Air Quality using Smartphones

Pereira, André; Patrício, Beatriz; Fonte, Filipa; Marques, Sandro; Reis, Catarina I.; Maximiano, Marisa

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/3640

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Abstract(s)

Nowadays, one of the major public health concerns is the quality of the air that surrounds us and knowing how polluted it might be. To compute the Air Quality Index for a specific geographical site, five pollutants can be considered: particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ground-level Ozone (O3), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and Sulphur dioxide (SO2). If we consider the data from both atmospheric conditions and the existence of catastrophic events, we will be able to cross it with existing data from sensor nodes (gathering air pollutants’ data) in order to accomplish a more detailed understanding of the current air quality in a specific area. Our solution introduces a differentiating factor: the concept of turning every smartphone into a dynamic sensor node that can be used to actively contribute to the centralized platform that gathers all the data from the sensor nodes. This feature enables citizens to play a significant and empowering role regarding healthcare conditions. The proposed system integrates several modules including a Custom Delivery Solution (CDS), and, as an alternative, an out-of-the-box solution named ThingSpeak. Both solutions offer a service delivery system to the mobile app that presents the latest data to the users and allows them to submit their own data.