A Personalized Air Quality Sensing System – A Preliminary Study on Assessing the Air Quality of London Underground Stations

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that air pollution has a significant impact on people's health, especially for patients with respiratory and cardiac diseases (e.g. COPD, asthma, ischemic heart disease). Although there are already many air quality monitoring stations in major cities, such as London, these stations are sparsely located, and the periodically collected information is insufficient to provide the granularity needed to assess the environmental risk for an individual (e.g. to avoid exacerbation). Wearable devices, on the other hand, are more suitable in this context, providing a better estimation of the air quality in the proximity of the person. Therefore, relevant warnings and information on health risks can be provided in real-time. As a proof of concept, we have developed a wearable sensor for continuous monitoring of air quality around the user, and a preliminary study was conducted to validate the sensor and assess the air quality in London Underground stations. Based on the PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm), temperature and location information, a model is generated for predicting the air quality of each station at different times. Our preliminary results have shown that there are significant differences in air quality in among stations and metro lines. It also demonstrated the concept that such wearable sensors can provide the information for users to make necessary travel arrangements to minimalize their exposure to polluted air.