US government look for innovative personal air quality sensor

Jun 08 2012

US government departments have combined in an attempt to find a personal, portable sensor which can monitor air pollution and measure the physiological response air quality has on a person.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology have recently announced a challenge for inventors to design technology which will find out what the impact of air pollution is on peoples’ health.

The challenge is called My Air, My Health Challenge, and is looking for a device which can be carried around or worn with ease, and can detect for a plausible link between air pollution and health, such as heart rate and breathing. The data collected from the device should also be available to be viewed publicly, in order to enhance public knowledge of air quality and health.

NIEHS director Linda Birnbaum said: “Men, women, children — we’re all different, and our bodies react in different ways to pollution and other harmful toxins in our environment.

“We believe pairing health researchers with technology innovators will help us get the tools we need for a more complete picture of what people are breathing and how it might affect their health.”

Dr. Peter Preuss, chief innovation officer for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, said that inexpensive and portable sensors were key to future air pollution records.

He said: “HHS and EPA designed this challenge to enable simultaneous measurement of what people are actually breathing — the nose-level exposure — and measurements of how their body is reacting — heart rate, lung function — to those pollutants."

The government departments have offered $15,000 to finalists to help develop their ideas into working prototypes. The overall winner will be awarded $100,000 for the sensor deemed the most effective solution for integrating usable physiological and air quality data that is meaningful to long-term health outcomes.