An EPICS-in-IEEE initiative: Learners of St Alban´s College and students of the University of Pretoria seek earth observation solutions through air-quality microsensing

This paper describes the design and implementation of a microsensor-based air-quality monitoring system intended for earth observations. Traditionally, air-quality monitoring systems are limited to centralized or static sites and thus obtain a limited amount of data for estimation of hazardous air pollutants. The system in this paper was designed to improve the shortcomings experienced by traditional air-quality monitoring systems. The system uses the wireless sensor network (WSNs) nodes to sense and transmit selected ambient air-quality parameters to a sensor sink, which relays these parameters to a data terminal where final data processing is completed and the user interface is situated. The project development team that was involved in the design comprised a senior undergraduate student at the University of Pretoria and a group of eight grade-11 secondary-school learners from St Alban´s College, a boys´ high school situated in Pretoria, South Africa. While the undergraduate final-year student designed an analogous system by first principles, the secondary-school learners used educational air-quality microsensor off-the-shelf components. The learners used an Android-based input/output sensor node to communicate to a mobile phone, which managed the upload to a Google drive folder. As a secondary outcome, the educational air-quality microsensor systems developed through this undertaking would serve as an educational tool for improving the public understanding of air-quality, including a new national air-quality act in South Africa. This project was completed as an endeavor of Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) in IEEE.