ITF2015: Imec NO2 sensor has mW power draw

At the Imec Technology Forum in Brussels this morning, Imec and the Holst Centre announced that they have developed a small NO2 sensor featuring a low power consumption in the mW range.

The sensors have a low detection limit for NO2 (<10ppb) 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 into information to make the right decisions, to take the right actions exactly as we need or want. The I2oT is expected to manage the sustainability, complexity and safety of our world. It will increase our comfort and wellbeing in many ways.

Health issues resulting from poor air quality are a growing concern for consumers and accurate monitoring is increasingly in demand.

Air quality is typically measured at just a few distinct locations per city, with specialised equipment. Many gas sensors are large, 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.

Their NO2 sensors were integrated in the Aireas air quality network, a multiple sensor network in the centre of Eindhoven (the Netherlands to test – in actual outdoor conditions and long term – the stability of the sensors, and to benchmark them against established reference sensors.

The sensors have been operational since early May 2015 and have contributed outdoor sensor data. During rush hour traffic the sensors have detected a significant increase of NO2 concentration up to the health safety limits.

Imec and Holst Centre are also deploying a similar sensor network inside the Holst Centre building in Eindhoven to test the sensors for indoor air quality monitoring, including its 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.

The generated sensor data are transferred to the cloud, stored in a database and immediately available on (mobile) applications.

“Data fusion methodology and advanced algorithms enable us to combine data from different sensors such as temperature, several gasses, humidity, human presence detection, and to derive contextual knowledge,” says Imec’s Kathleen Philips. “This information contributes to a correct interpretation of the situation and helps us to take adequate actions to solve the problem. In this way, we have developed a context-aware intuitive sensing system.”

Companies interested in early application validation and development for distributed IoT networks and/or in the innovative technology and circuits to realize them are invited to become a partner in Imec snd Holst’s R&D programme. IP can also be licensed.

david manners

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