One of the more interesting aspects of small sensors are how easy they can be to assemble. In many ways, technology has enabled us to dramatically simplify assemble, and willing and able individuals help integrate components and software through open source collaboration.  it used to be only the very geeky hobbyist, or a very wealthy aficionado could fabricate decent instruments.

The recent ‘maker’ movement has been the catalyst for this advancement.  It is nothing short of remarkable when even teenagers , with their own insight and a few dollars in parts, can fabricate almost anything imaginable.  Even colleges are embracing the Maker movement as described in this New York Times [subscription required] article.  Our own hometown of Amherst, where the University of Massachusetts is located, is home to the Amherst Makers group, a group that seeks to provide free open space and advice in making almost anything.

I think the point to share here is this: there are lots of ways to build something, and not everyone will get it right.  But the open source maker movement is self-correcting, with a constant stream of improvements to techniques and idea and capacities.  Isn’t this what we want when we build capacity empower communities to assess their air quality?

There are loads of air quality sensing techniques that promise all sorts of things – does my home have too much CO2?  Are PM levels safe?  Should I go out and exercise now?  Or later?  Kickstarter, Indigogo, Gofundme, and the like are excellent avenues to generate seed money to build/design a new sensor.  Most of these applications, however, seem geared towards the consumer market, and often delivery their results in the form of a smiley face or an ominous red color, depending on what they are sensing.  These units are usually nothing more than simple small sensors packaged in an aesthetically pleasing and convenient form factor.  All your for just a few hundred dollars!

But at their core, they include an inexpensive sensor device(s), a microprocessor, and some way to output the data.  Some calibration is usually included in the production process, but these are rarely made available and thus remain rather uncertain.  But they look nice, they do what they promise, and it’s easy to let these products drift into the clutter of modern technology that always seems to accumulate.

We view this not as ‘competition’ in small sensor deployment and design; rather this is just one of several potential usages for these technologies.  If the intention is to connect air quality professionals with the health research communities, these products just aren’t adequate, especially giving their retail price relative to the cost of the embedded technology.  For researchers, we believe these inexpensive techniques can be used to empower those who have the least.  Our world is afflicted with degraded air quality, and this is often worse in the developing world.

Air Sensors Everywhere wants to enable this use – we aren’t really interested in building the next Air Quality Egg;+ but we think it would be great idea to use these technologies to provide better data.  Their website lists about a dozen Eggs mapped in India, a country of more than a billion people.  Africa has a total of two.  South America, less than a dozen.   This isn’t meant to pick on the Air Quality Egg, but it does clearly illustrate where these technologies are embraced – primarily western nations where pollution levels are much more manageable.

Let’s use these approaches, map our a plan in best practices, distribute this globally, and improve the world.