[LUM#17] The promise of a breath of fresh air
Measuring air quality exactly where and when we breathe it—that's the service Mobil'Air will offer. Modular sensors capable of measuring CO2 levels, particle types, and atmospheric pressure. All contained in a miniaturized box that can be carried or placed anywhere.
Choosing your jogging route or bike route to work based on air quality is one of the applications that Mobil'Air could enable. "Initially, in the post-COVID context, the idea was to create a module to measure CO2 levels in classrooms, " explains Maxime Bigot, workshop leader on the OB.i platform .Lab at the Montpellier-Sète University Institute of Technology. The project was proposed to Nathan Grau, a student in physical measurements, as part of an internship between April and June 2021. "He ultimately came back with this concept of a mobile sensor that is modular and adaptable to needs."
Maxime Bigot and his colleague François Fabre have coupled the initial CO2 sensor with a sensor capable of measuring the diameter of particles between 1 and 10 microns. "This ranges from pollen, dust, and cement to larger particles mainly released by construction sites," explains the presenter. Sensors for climatic conditions are then added: temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and even light intensity. "The idea is to work on a customized offering that allows users to choose the sensors they want to integrate into their device."
Mobile mayor
Once activated, each sensor can take a measurement every five minutes and link it to the user's GPS position. The data is then stored on an SD card and downloaded to a computer to generate a map of air quality in the areas traveled through. "The advantage of this mobile sensor is that it can be installed on a bicycle or vehicle, but tracking movements still raises some security issues that we need to work on, " says Maxime Bigot. "The slightly crazy challenge we set ourselves with the students is to get the mayor, Michaël Delafosse, to install one on his bike."
While waiting to install them on their bikes, politicians are already taking an interest in this innovation made in IUT, as the prototype is currently being tested in the town of Saint Georges d'Orques. Deployment in the Montpellier area is also being considered. "They will not be used in their mobile version but for fixed use," explains Maxime Bigot. Thanks to these sensors, local authorities will be able to check the impact of the ecological measures they are taking at a specific location and at a specific time." And these are not just empty words.
Unleashing innovation with OB.i.Lab
Opened in 2016 and modeled on Anglo-Saxon Fab Labs, the OB.i.Lab hall offers students and teachers at the Montpellier-Sète University Institute of Technology the opportunity to give free rein to their creativity with the support of two specialist facilitators—Maxime Bigot and François Fabre—and access to a range of self-service machines, including 3D printers and laser engravers. Services are also available for businesses. "The name was chosen by Philippe Combette, the initiator of this project. OB stands for object, -i- for intelligent. Finally, -Obi- means belt in Japanese, which at the IUT represents the very close link between the academic and professional worlds," explains Maxime Bigot. "It sums up what we do very well!"
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