Why is NAR building an Air Quality Sensor?

The goal for this project is to make information about the air people are breathing more accessible. While the prevailing thought has been that outdoor air quality, especially in cities, is worse than indoor. Did you know that the reverse can actually be true? In fact, the EPA estimates that indoor air quality can be two-to-five times worse than outdoors in some places, which is especially troubling considering we spent most of our time indoors.

What environmental factors does it measure?

  • Temperature (SHT31)
  • Relative Humidity (SHT31)
  • VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) (IAQ Core)
  • Derived CO2 (IAQ Core)
  • Barometric Pressure (MPL3115A2)
  • Light Intensity (TSL2561)
  • CO Concentration (MiCS-4154)
  • NO2 Concentration (MiCS-4154)
  • Sound Intensity (ADMP401)

Are they being shipped assembled?

Currently boards are not being sold assembled as we are still in the prototyping stage. If you would like to join us in our development we have compiled the following links to make it easy for you to source the correct parts.

How is the board powered?

Currently it is powered through the GPIO Pins on the Raspberry Pi that it is mounted to.

How much will it cost to buy?

Our goal is to make them available for $50 USD but currently the prototypes cost $80 USD to build.

What connectivity options does it have?

  • FSK (RFM69HW 433/915MHz)
  • WiFi (Particle Photon)
  • Cellular (Particle Electron) (Coming soon)
  • LoRa (Coming Soon)

Where is the code repository located?

All of the hardware, software, and case designs can be located on our github repository here: Open Source Indoor Air Quality Sensor

How are the sensors calibrated?

All sensors will be calibrated against research grade equipment.

How is the sensor data transmitted?

Current version of the PiAQ sends all data over the the serial connection.

What enhancements are planned for future versions?

Hardware roadmaps are available on the wiki page of the github repository here: Open Source Indoor Air Quality Sensor


Still looking for more information about the PiAQ? Check out the Wiki on the main github repository.