In major cities, we are surrounded by silent killers at all
times.
On busy streets,
in poorly-ventilated office buildings, and particularly in cars, the air we
breathe is often filled with toxic fumes that cause health
problems from lung
disease to heart attacks.
A new innovation
promises to arm citizens against such airborne menaces.
The Atmotube is
a sleek, pocket-sized device with a battery of sensors embedded in its titanium
shell. The design team claims it can detect 127 Volatile Organic Compounds
(VOCs), as well as poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide.
The device --
which recently completed a successful crowdfunding campaign -- takes readings every 10 seconds.
The results feed to the user's smartphone, which are displayed as an air
quality score and map displaying pollution levels across an area.
Vera Kozyr, CEO of parent company Not Another One, claims the
technology is fast, sensitive, and accurate in all conditions.
"Atmotube
senses even slight changes... and the response time is less than a
second," says Kozyr. "In low levels of VOCs our air pollution
sensor's accuracy is about 0.05 parts per million. We've also implemented
mechanisms for compensation of temperature and humidity impact on the air
quality measurements."
The entrepreneur believes the sensor could be useful for anyone
but has specific targets in mind; parents who want to guarantee their
children's safety, athletes that need to monitor everything entering their
body, and people with health conditions that may be vulnerable to pollution.
The device will
retail for $100, and be sold across the world, with varying emphases for different
markets.
"In the
U.S. and EU we will focus more on healthcare and partnerships with asthma,
allergy and lung associations," says Kozyr. "In China, the consumers
market will be our first priority as people are already aware about the air
pollution problem, we also plan to partner with air purifiers and air filters
producers there."
A new growth market
The Atmotube is one of several new
personal sensors in a fast-moving and diverse field.
The Airbot from
Carnegie Mellon's CREATE Lab will
go on sale next year, together with the Waterbot for testing water quality. The Scio sensor from Consumer Physics -- already on
the market -- provides a nutritional breakdown for food and drugs.
Avimanyu Basu,
senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan, believes the personal
sensor market has great potential, estimating it could be worth $300 million by
2017.
"At this
point commercialization is very low but there are quite a number of promising
products and technologies," the analyst says. "Some are in the last
phase of development and have gathered considerable funding."
Sensors for
industry use are already lucrative. Industrial food safety and air quality
sensor markets are both worth around $3 billion, according to Frost &
Sullivan's internal research.
With the falling
cost of components, Basu believes that industrial standards can be achieved
with relatively low-cost, hand-held devices, while offering the performance
advantage of instant readings.
Personal sensors
could also have an impact beyond the user's health and safety. Mapping air
quality could be of vital importance for public health policy, and dealing with
war zones or the aftermath of disasters -- one company has already produced a
cheap and lightweight sensor to analyze conditions in Fukushima's
fallout zone.
As sensors hit
the market in a range of stylized shapes and colors, they could be mistaken for
any other flashy digital accessories -- but they might just save your life.
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