Florida’s New Environmental Monitor is a Game Changer

The collection of environmental data, including water quality, sea level, weather conditions and air quality, can be used in a variety of ways including for research, climate predictions and future planning. To this end, the introduction of wireless devices which can map all kinds of data in Florida is being seen as a revolution for the way that data is collected, presented and used.

Small wireless computing devices, which range in size from a small coin up to that of a matchbox, have been designed and developed by Computer Scientist Dr Jason Hallstrom from Florida Atlantic University. Dr Hallstrom is the Director of the Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering at the FAU (ISENSE@FAU).

Florida Atlantic University

The aim of ISENSE is to act as a research hub, taking insights from those within the FAU as well as outside influences to tackle research problems as they arise. To begin with, Dr Hallstrom is discussing joint projects with the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Centre (already part of FAU) and the Charles E Schmidt College of Medicine to research new ideas which will benefit Florida and its’ citizens.

The Data Collection

The biggest asset Dr Hallstrom takes with him as he approaches the various educational institutions though is his data collection devices.

These sensing devices have been manufactured specifically to collect information about their immediate surroundings. They will work by collecting images as a birds’ eye view of their local environment. Once collected, these images will be streamed up to a cloud storage area where they can be assessed and used by the team at FAU for a variety of purposes including climate control policies, health and social welfare policies and fuel research.

Aptly titled Eiffel because of the way the data is collected, Dr Hallstrom’s creation can be deployed en masse enabling enormous collections of data over a widespread area in a relatively small amount of time.

Dr Hallstrom described his creation and its’ applications, saying “applied sensing and the emerging ‘internet of things’ provide endless possibilities for making the ‘invisible’ visible. At FAU we will be developing technologies for a broad spectrum of applications and uses, ranging from monitoring physiological changes in senior patients to support ageing in place to mitigating natural and manmade disasters such as hurricanes and biological threats.”

It is hoped that the speed with which data can be collected, collated and then dispersed among the academic and scientific community through the cloud can ensure that manmade and natural disasters can be quickly and effectively dealt with.  In time, many of the early warnings that these disasters tend to give off can be dealt with more readily to decrease the effect they have on the immediate area. Emergency Management is emerging as one of the foremost priorities of the FAU in this project.

What next for environmental monitoring?

Increasingly, the European Union (EU) is attempting to combat air pollution inside and out. Currently, it’s funding a nanotechnology-led project, which will enable people to access information regarding air quality via their smartphones. Titled IAQSense (IAQ for Indoor Air Quality), project aims to "develop new nanotechnology-based sensor systems that will precisely monitor the composition of the air in terms of both chemical and bio contaminants." For more information on this topic, read: Your Next Smartphone Could Monitor Indoor Air Quality. 

Image Credit: Florida Atlantic University