Sensors 2017, 17(8), 1879; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17081879
Small, Smart, Fast, and Cheap: Microchip-Based Sensors to Estimate Air Pollution Exposures in Rural Households
1
Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
2
Electronically Monitored Ecosystems (EME), LLC, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
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CONACYT—Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190, Michoacán, México
4
Department of Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
5
Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
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Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
7
Airviz, Inc., CREATE LAB, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
8
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 13 July 2017 / Revised: 5 August 2017 / Accepted: 11 August 2017 / Published: 16 August 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Sensors: A New Class of Tools to Measure Air Quality)
Abstract
Over the last 20 years, the Kirk R. Smith research group at the University of California Berkeley—in collaboration with Electronically Monitored Ecosystems, Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, and other academic institutions—has developed a suite of relatively inexpensive, rugged, battery-operated, microchip-based devices to quantify parameters related to household air pollution. These devices include two generations of particle monitors; data-logging temperature sensors to assess time of use of household energy devices; a time-activity monitoring system using ultrasound; and a CO2-based tracer-decay system to assess ventilation rates. Development of each system involved numerous iterations of custom hardware, software, and data processing and visualization routines along with both lab and field validation. The devices have been used in hundreds of studies globally and have greatly enhanced our understanding of heterogeneous household air pollution (HAP) concentrations and exposures and factors influencing them. View Full-TextKeywords:
PM2.5 monitor; stove use monitor; time-activity monitor; air exchange rate monitor; field validation; intrahousehold variation; household air pollution
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MDPI and ACS Style
Pillarisetti, A.; Allen, T.; Ruiz-Mercado, I.; Edwards, R.; Chowdhury, Z.; Garland, C.; Hill, L.D.; Johnson, M.; Litton, C.D.; Lam, N.L.; Pennise, D.; Smith, K.R. Small, Smart, Fast, and Cheap: Microchip-Based Sensors to Estimate Air Pollution Exposures in Rural Households. Sensors 2017, 17, 1879.
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