Cost-effective air quality monitoring with decision support

As reported in the Global Burden of Disease study, poor air quality results in more than one and a half million premature deaths in India. People of the Indian subcontinent face one of the highest annual average ambient particulate matter exposure levels in the world, but monitoring of air pollution levels is extremely limited, both in terms of scope and scale.

The aim of our project is to develop novel systems and easy-to-use platforms to provide the lay person with contextual information regarding air quality. We will develop visualisation tools in order to provide real-time and localised air quality information with measured/estimated values across various air quality parameters.

Our platform will provide an assessment regarding the health impact of outdoor air quality on a qualitative scale by using classifications such as “healthy,” “unhealthy,” or “very unhealthy.” Such straightforward categorisation will facilitate informed decision making about outdoor activities and corresponding preventive measures, such as use of filter masks.

In addition, our system will allow the general public to make their concerns known to local authorities, and possibly at the national level via social media.