Bosch has won a CES 2018 Smart Cities Innovation Award for its new air quality monitoring system, with Climo units measuring on-street pollution levels across the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, for the duration of the four-day event.
Originally developed by Bosch engineers in India in collaboration with Intel, the Climo micro-climate monitoring system (MCMS) enables the rapid and accurate measurement of air-quality parameters, helping cities around the world manage urban air pollution in real-time and at a much lower cost than existing technologies.
The tiny box enables rapid and accurate measurement of data, combining sensors and software to deliver a range of air-quality information covering key air pollutants including: particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone. It also provides data from environmental parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, light, sound, pressure, and even pollen.
Ambient air quality is a key objective for urban environmental planning. The data provided by the Climo system can be used by cities in a variety of proactive approaches, such as traffic-flow management. It can also serve to proactively message the local population with tips and information. For example, citizens who are asthmatic or suffer from allergies can instantly know whether it is better to stay indoors or avoid a certain part of the city. It is also a source of data generation for cities to make other decisions, such as future policy and planning. In rural or park areas, the system can also provide an early warning for fires.
The ability to enable micro-climate data collection comes via the connection of compact wireless sensors. Secure remote calibration and monitoring is enabled through both wireless (wi-fi and 3G cellular) as well as a wired connection. The Climo system is powered with Intel IoT technologies and features cloud-based analytics, data management and visualization software. Units are pre-configured by location and can be further configured using over-the-air updates, allowing Climo to operate with future technologies, such as 5G, as they become available.
While air-quality monitoring systems can often require large infrastructure investments and are complex to operate, the Climo system was designed for simple deployment and management. It measures 1/100th the size and 1/10th the cost of a traditional air quality monitoring system. Featuring power options via either 110/220V or 12V DC, Climo was designed to withstand a variety of weather conditions, providing a solution for cities and countries around the globe with an ability to operate in different climate zones and with different economic environments.
