“In the Air” design challenge leverages wireless technology to improve quality of life
The element14 Community has selected 15 engineers from around the world to take part in its “In the Air” design challenge, an initiative to develop pollution measurement applications inspired by the Internet of Things movement.
In partnership with Cisco Systems, Texas Instruments (TI), Wurth Elektronik, The Eclipse Foundation, Sierra Wireless and Keysight Technologies, element14’s challengers will use a kit of products to develop sensors that capture and relay pollution levels in the air and water quickly and efficiently. The kit includes the element14 BeagleBone Black, Wurth power inductors, TI’s SimpleLink™ Wi-Fi® CC3200 LaunchPad and TI’s MSP430FR5969 low-power FRAM LaunchPad.
“Pollution levels continue to rise around the world, both in the air we breathe and in the water we drink. The first step to combating this global crisis is effectively monitoring and measuring just how deep this pollution runs,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community, element14. “The element14 Community is proud to lead the charge in leveraging breakthrough technologies to design real solutions to the very real problem of pollution.”
Competitors have from now until February 27, 2015 to develop and finalize their solutions. The participants, their countries of origin and their proposed concepts are as follows:
· Janis Alnis (Latvia) – Air quality sensor to measure temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, dust and oxygen content in classrooms
· Dominic Amann (Canada) – Automated climate control system for greenhouses
· Ravi Butani (India) – Home system to monitor quality of air in air-conditioning units, ventilators and exhaust fans, and monitor quality of drinking water
· Christever del Rosario (New Zealand) – A real-time carbon footprint monitoring system
· Ambrogio Galbusera (Italy) – Air quality sensor and car mount with smart phone connectivity
· Dragan Knezevic (Serbia) – Pollen and allergen alert system for the home
· Crystal Knodel (U.S.) – Portable monitoring system to detect CO2 and airborne micro particles
· Ryan Longlong M. Labutap (Philippines) – Buoy sensors to detect high concentrations of algae along the coast
· Manolis Nikiforakis (Greece) – 10×10 grid of weather sensors to detect rain and air pollution
· Inderpreet Singh (India) – Air pollution analyzer to measure the effects of firecrackers during the holiday season
· Gan Eng Swee (Singapore) – Dust, temperature and humidity measurement system
· Anshul Thakur (India) – Home system to measure noise, air, water and light pollution in each room
· Frederick Vandenbosch (Belgium) – Wireless, self-powered air filtration system
· Dale Winhold (Canada) – Portable environment field tester for campers and researchers
· Michael Wylie (U.S.) – Embeddable HVAC particle counting system
The challengers will post blogs, videos and images of their progress at the element14 Community. A grand prize winner will be selected to receive a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, a U1273A OLED Multimeter from Keysight Technologies and a TI Bluetooth low energy SensorTag. The Community Choice winner, who will be chosen by a vote on the element14 community, will receive a MacBook Air and a TI SensorTag.
To learn more about element14’s “In the Air” design challenge, visit the homepage.
