NSF Award
1455415
This project creates an integrated pollution identification grid that provides detailed, real-time data on air pollution creation points. Utah Valley, like other areas of the country, experiences severe unhealthy "inversion" days, and localized air pollution "hot spots" throughout the year. These conditions cause major health problems for people living and working throughout the valley. Current air pollution monitoring utilizes a limited number of fixed sampling and data collection points with little opportunity to create control methods to reduce pollution levels in real-time as they change throughout the day. The air quality at street level is generally unknown. <br/><br/>The project provides a system to collect real-time, interactive data on the location, time, direction, and amount of pollution created to support pollution control efforts underway by various public and private entities in the state. Mobile monitoring units and large-bandwidth wireless networks allow the data to be collected, processed, and reported in real time. With this information, air pollution hot spots can be identified and responses taken immediately to correct pollution causing conditions and improve overall air quality. The key technical elements of the project are the collection of continuous data from mobile monitoring units mounted on vehicles owned by government agencies, commercial fleets and private cars, then using high-speed wireless systems to backhaul the data to a central data center. With this information, air pollution hot spots are identified and responses taken immediately to correct pollution causing conditions and improve overall air quality.
