SOM II, sub-project: Air quality measurement by bicycle
In December 2019, an air particle measurement was started in Lund via bicycle. Five cyclists were each fitted with a Snifferbike sensor that reported values displayed on a map during the cycle ride. The sensor is put on the bike handlebars and as the data was collected it was given an idea of the status of the air in different places in Lund. The project was part of Future by Lund's advent calendar, which aimed to raise awareness of the benefits sensors can bring. The values were displayed in real time publicly via a website.
Finanisär
During December 2019, a control of the Lundal air was carried out using crowd-sourced data with measurements from five bicycles in Lund. The data set was built on all the way during December. The snifferbike sensors were tuned to measure really small air particles -- up to 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5).
“The experiment with sniffer bite sensors was partly a test of technology, where in the SOM project we wanted to investigate how well sniffer bite sensors work to measure air quality on a mobile basis.
It was also an opportunity to try several other things; like how to use affordable sensors to crowdsource data, how to show real-time values publicly, and how to generate an interest in the societal benefit that sensors can do. We thought the technology worked well. For example, we never lost coverage even though the collection was done on mobile,” Britta Duve Hansen told the SOM project. We also showed the survey in our digital advent calendar that got noticed, so even that purpose was achieved.
In terms of air quality measurement, the expectation was that the measured concentrations of particulate matter in the air would vary widely. Weather conditions affect, but also the times of day and of course the location of the cycled route. Days with low average on measured concentration particles yielded blue map lines (good values), other days the measured values turned to map lines in yellow-orange (moderate). Red map lines indicate right concentrations (bad). The measurements showed that the air in Lund on most days is very good and most days the map lines were blue. A few times the values turned yellow.
“Elevated values may be due to high humidity, such as fog, causing a rash on the particle meters,” explained Britta Duve Hansen. On some occasions, we got a red mark on the map. It was at a passageway past an ongoing road construction.
It is known that these mobile sensors give less reliable values than large measuring instruments but the experiment showed that they could still give an indication of air changes over time. The snifferbike sensors could also be used to provide a finger indication of where it is appropriate to place a more accurate measuring station in the future. There are also other ways to crowdsource air data, for example through luftdata.se.
SnifferBike is a particle sensor developed by SODAQ and Civity. The measurements with SnifferBike began as a development project in cooperation with Utrecht province and it is hoped that the measurements will make individuals and governments more aware of the environment. In the Netherlands, they are testing large-scale measurements of air quality through Snifferbikes.
LTE-M is the backbone of the Sniffer Bike. It is a type of connection similar to that of mobile phones but specially made for Internet of Things applications. It measures the air every 10 seconds and sends data to the data platform every minute.
Air quality measurement by bicycle
The project is a sub-project of the SOM project is part of the Strategic Innovation Programme for the Internet of Things, IoT Sweden, which is funded by Vinnova. Anders Trana at Future by Lund was the project manager for the entire project. The project started on September 1, 2017 and ran toDecember 2020.
Project Time: 20191201-20200131
Sub-project manager: Britta Duve-Hansen
