Low-Cost Sensing – Current Status and Opportunities Timothy S. Dye Sonoma Technology, Inc. Petaluma, California Presented at the National Air Quality Conference Research Triangle Park, NC February 12,

Outline 2 Current status –Who –What –Why Specific project examples Concerns and opportunities Future

Many Efforts 3 Who –University – cutting edge research –Private sector/start-ups –Government –NGOs –DIYers –Schools Background

What’s Happening 4 Disruptive Technology Quality  Capabilities  Size  Price AQ Instrument Manufacturers Starting with proven technology Lowering costs Shrinking size Industry, Universities, NGOs Starting with low-cost sensors Improving quality Designing packaging Background

What’s Happening in the Private Sector 5 Canary Lapka Sensordrone Esensors Airboxlab Libelium Sensaris AirBase CubeSensor Cairpol Background

Why This Is Happening 6 “Because they can” (low cost, easy to create) STEM education Personal health info and protection Advocacy for changing policy Decision making Research Background

Maker Faire 7 Sponsors: STI HabitatMap Manhattan College NY Hall of Science Type: Education Approach: Developed AirCasting pods Let people measure particles Crowdsourced the data Interviewed participants Examples

Maker Faire 8 Examples

Air Quality Egg 9 Sponsor: Public via KickStarter Type: DIY Approach: Sought crowdsourced funding ($140k) Developed eggs to measure CO and NO 2 Costs about $150 Results discouraging; didn’t focus on quality Examples

Mobile Particle Monitoring 10 Sponsor: Tim Type: Education Approach: Use $5,000 PM instrument and $100 PM sensor Use AirCasting platform to store and log data Examples

Mobile Particle Monitoring 11 Examples

Mobile Particle Monitoring 12 Examples

Kids Making Sense 13 Sponsor: Knight News Foundation Type: Education Objective: Prototype concept of Kids Making Sense Approach: Develop 5 PM sensors Develop curriculum for 4-hr class Teach high school students in Brooklyn and San Francisco Evaluate sensor, curriculum, and concept Report to Knight News Foundation in June Examples

Potential Concerns with Low-Cost Monitoring 14 Inaccurate data used by organizations Confused citizens Distrust of government Time drain on AQ agency staff Unknown process for how data will be used

Potential Opportunities from Low-Cost Monitoring 15 Engage new people/advocates for clean air Supplement monitoring networks Lower cost of monitoring Outreach and education Peer regulation (local understanding  local solutions)

Future – How Government Can Help 16 Quality studies EPA/ORD – sensor evaluations EPA Air Sensor Guidebook AirNow Sensor Evaluation Service Pilot studies Demonstrating claims Establishing value Community group monitoring Engaging stakeholders Aggregation for ingesting and quality-controlling data Health messaging determination

Contact 17 Tim Dye