Large scale monitoring of greenhouse gases (GhG) and gaseous pollutants is no longer a purely scientific concern but is present in many areas of daily human life. The GhGs methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) along with air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3) are fundamental parameters for health and well-being of the general population. Commercially available state-of-the–art in-situ sensors fail to strike the balance between reasonable investment and necessary accuracy for larger scale monitoring, especially for GhG sensors. Satellite-platforms suffer from inherent drawbacks, which also future missions cannot overcome. These include limited spatial resolution and low temporal coverage due to cloud cover and revisit times and can result in major artefacts. However, currently no technologies are available for high resolution, large-scale monitoring that could enable the quantification of trace gas concentrations at relevant temporal and/or spatial scales, which would enable the design of efficient mitigation and prevention strategies against exposure to polluted air.
The impact of air pollution results in serious adverse health effects and causes about 92,000 premature deaths per year in Europe (EU-28, only NO2 and O3), with the number of related illnesses estimated to be at least one order of magnitude higher. Moreover, exposure to and evolution of trace gas concentrations is now recognized as a central knowledge gap in many areas spanning from air quality to next generation agriculture and safety applications.
WoePal GmbH possesses a disruptive photoacoustic gas detection technology that can enable this type of measurements by using miniaturized, highly selective and sensitive, low-cost gas analyser systems. Due to the reduced size, weight, and prize, WoePal is in a unique position to produce wearable, low-power consuming gas analysers with unrivalled performance.
Based on this the goal of the IA’s project is to enable the construction of large-scale gas sensor networks by massive rollout of personal pollution exposure devices worn by individuals thus acting as mobile gas-sensing nodes. Based on the basic sensorial hardware the use sensor network technology to develop an innovative, transferable solution for large-scale deployment of sensors in metropolitan and urban areas is planned. The high-quality information will allow for developing tailor-made intelligent, cost efficient strategies to mitigate impact of air pollution in urban areas. The IA shall leverage his experience to work on a technological solution and design an innovation strategy to bring this solution to the market.
