Imec, Holst Centre Present Gas Sensing Platform for Intuitive IoT Applications

Imec and Holst Centre have developed a small NO2 sensor featuring a low power consumption in the mW range. The sensors have a low detection limit for NO2 (<10 ppb) and a fast response time. They are particularly well suited for air quality monitoring and serve as a solution to the increased demand for accurate local air quality monitoring for indoor and outdoor environments. The sensors are being tested in real-life situations, as part of an environmental monitoring platform.

While wearable technology that measures body parameters has become increasingly popular in recent years, the Intuitive Internet of Things (I2oT) is next on the horizon: connecting everybody and everything everywhere with data stored in the cloud, turning the massive amount of data in information to make the right decisions, to take the right actions exactly as we need or want.

Air quality is typically measured on just a few distinct locations per city, with specialized equipment. Many current gas sensors are large in size, have high power consumption and are too cost prohibitive to be implemented on a large scale for I2oT applications. Imec and Holst Centre have developed small, simple, low power and high quality autonomous sensors that wirelessly communicate with the environment and the cloud.

Imec and Holst Centre’s NO2 sensors were integrated in the Aireas air quality network, a multiple sensor network in the city center of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The sensors have been operational since early May 2015 and contribute valuable outdoor sensor data. During traffic rush hours, the sensors detect a significant increase of NO2 concentration up to the health safety limits.

Imec and Holst Centre are currently deploying a similar sensor network inside the Holst Centre building in Eindhoven. This environmental monitoring platform includes a proprietary NO2 sensor and commercial sensors for temperature, relative humidity and CO2. The measured levels can be monitored live, over the Internet. In a next step, proprietary low-cost low-power sensors will be added for CO2, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), ozone and particle matter.