A collaborative approach to global urban issues
Working with Professor Roderic Jones (University of Cambridge) and David Carruthers (CERC) as part of the ground-breaking Breathe London pilot project, Acoem installed over 100 near reference monitors around London, UK.
Working with the data from this network, a new technique was applied to remotely calibrate and validate the network without impacting on measurements. The novel calibration technique developed with our UK team involved extracting the underlying wider regional background data across the network and using this to provide a calibration baseline during times of minimal localised response.
This background measurement could then be subtracted, providing authorities with far more indicative and accurate localised data that could inform mitigation strategies and have a greater impact on improving air quality than compliance with regulations alone.
“In this era of climatic upheavals and a global pandemic, now more than ever, air quality monitoring for cities needs to be more localised and focus on faster response times — enabling separation of local, regional and background pollutants to accurately measure trends in space and time,” commented Grant.
“Using the data gathered from the Breathe London pilot project, we have developed a novel automated system that integrates with our innovative methodology for optimising the use of low cost sensors across urban centres worldwide. I look forward to sharing our findings at Cities 4.0,” he added.
