Evaluating Portable Indoor Air Quality Monitors Against Calibrated Measuring Stations For Measuring Selected Air Quality Parameters

Air pollution is an increasing challenge faced by modern cities and communities. The WHO attributes 4.2 million deaths to air pollution annually (In comparison, only 3.5 million people were killed by the COVID pandemic in 2021).

Hong Kong has an existing air quality monitoring system that monitors the air quality around the city to inform people where the air is polluted. However, the system suffers from many issues, including the fact that it can't be deployed on a massive scale. Only 16 air quality stations cover the entirety of Hong Kong(with a land area of over 1100km2), making it hard to determine the air quality of a specific region in the city. Furthermore, the complicated terrain of Hong Kong will worsen this problem as it will cause the air quality to vary greatly in different places.

In this project, I will look at the existing portable Uhoo air quality detector, which uses IoT technology to continuously monitor air quality. Compared with the existing system, the Uhoo benefits in being cheaper, easier to access through the internet and easier to move around or deploy. These benefits entail it can be deployed in large numbers across the city, in specific places where air quality needs to be measured, and possibly at a lower cost than the existing air quality system.

However, in using new technologies, the Uhoo air quality monitor (PM2.5, PM10, O3, SO2, NOx, CO, VOCs) has not been confirmed to be accurate when measuring the air quality. Risks also exist in that air quality values measured can drift over time and become inaccurate. Hence, in this experiment, I will compare the accuracy of the Uhoo with an existing school air quality monitoring system(TEOM PM measurement system + Airpointer monitoring system) that is approved by the Hong Kong government and of high specification. I will evaluate whether the Uhoo can be used as a reliable means of measuring air quality.