The smart city of the future offers a wealth of advancements available through connectivity. Technological solutions will greatly improve the quality of life in cities around the world. Sensors throughout the city will provide data in a variety of areas and enable cities to take action on topics like air quality. At Smart Cities Week 2017, Bosch will showcase the Micro-Climate Monitoring System (MCMS), which enables the rapid and accurate measurement of air quality parameters.
Ambient air quality is a key objective for urban environmental planning.
At Smart Cities Week, Bosch will show a live demo featuring air quality measurements from cities around the world. Participants will be able to see live data from Phoenix as well as other cities around the world.
The MCMS system developed by Bosch in collaboration with Intel combines sensors and software to deliver a range of air quality data, 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 and pressure.
“Air quality is a major challenge for cities because it touches every person – whether resident or visitor – who sets foot in the city,” said Frank Sgambati, director of smart city development for Bosch in North America. “The opportunity of smart city technology through sensors and software help cities to proactively manage challenges like air quality. At Bosch, this meets our brand promise of ‘Invented for Life’ because it stands to provide great benefit to mankind.”
While air quality monitoring systems can often require large infrastructure investments and are complex to operate, the MCMS system was designed for simple deployment and management. It measures 1/100th the size of a traditional air quality monitoring system and was designed to withstand a variety of weather conditions. The MCMS units feature options for power via either 110/220 V or 12V DC.
Units are pre-configured by location and can be further configured using over-the-air updates. The easy update capabilities are part of the MCMS design to scale with future technologies such as 5G as they become available.
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) as well as a wired connection. The MCMS is powered with Intel IoT technologies and features cloud-based analytics, data management and visualization software.
The data provided by the MCMS system can be utilized by cities in a variety of proactive approaches such as traffic flow management and to also proactively message the local population with tips and information. It is also a source of data generation for cities to make other decisions such as future policy and planning.