Description
AQ Guard Smart is a compact and cloud-ready measuring instrument for the determination of ambient air quality. In addition to the measuring principle of optical scattered light measurement of single particles based on the technology of the EN 16450-certified Fidas® 200 for fine dust measurement, it uses additional gas sensors for measuring the pollutant gases NO2, SO2, O3, CO, TVOC and CO2 are integrated, which can provide information about the particle origin .In addition the system is equipped with a GPS-sensor, reporting the location together with the named parameters. The system is designed for the requirements of outdoor air measurement in the smart city environment to improve granularity while maintaining high comparability to official measurements, for environmental monitoring and health protection. The simultaneous measurement of pollutant gases predestines the device for measurement in environmentally sensitive areas, especially where measurements of pollutant gases are already common or required by law.
The AQ Guard Smart received MCERTS certification as an Indicative Ambient Particulate Monitor on 6/26/2022.
Thus, the AQ Guard Smart supports model calculations of the current fine dust pollution and forecasts, which will require stricter limit values in the future and thus the necessary lower uncertainties for local measurements. Seasonal and cyclical particulate matter forecasts can be carried out in a more differentiated manner and with higher accuracy. This enables timely planning of measures to prevent particulate matter pollution and protect health, differentiated implementation of measures to protect the population, and implementation of abatement strategies to reduce pollution, e.g., through predictive traffic control.
Fig. 1: AQ Guard Smart in use on the volcanic island of La Palma
For a better understanding of the fine dust input and its cause, the device is optionally available with a corresponding weather station, which provides supplementary meteorological information. Sensors that measure temperature, humidity and pressure are integrated as standard.
Fig. 2: AQ Guard Smart on a tripod
The AQ Guard Smart is the most modern, continuous air quality measurement system available, which also offers manufacturers and users of lower-resolution sensors a comparison option and thus a plausibility check before the measured values are made available for further processing in formation and dispersion studies.
The cloud application MyAtmosphere created for this purpose enables both private and governmental operators to retrieve current measured values directly, to compare them with other devices without delay and further processing, or to integrate them into their own systems/environments via an optional programming interface (API). It speaks for itself that the usual protocols such as ASCII, MODBUS via TCP or UDP are also integrated.
