Issue at Hand
In Malaysia, the reading for the Air Quality Index is based on a PM10 standards where the particulate matter is of the size of 10 micro grams per square meter. The updated standards from EPA are based on PM2.5 where the particulate matter is of the size of 2.5 micro grams per square meter.
The Department of Environment mentioned that they will take 3 years to be able to deploy new PM2.5 sensors.
Resolution
Sprint #1
Build a low cost PM2.5 sensor that reads the particulate matter and calculate the AIr Quality Index.
Sprint #2
Send the output of the sensor to a digital LCD display and create a traffic light system using LED.
Sprint #3
Send the output to a cloud service so that we can monitor. This is done using wifi.
Sprint #4
Attach a 3G module so that we can send the data using 3G.
Sprint #5
Attach a GPS sensor so we can make it mobile.
Sprint #6
Attach the Edison board to a battery!
Sprint #7
Solar power the damn thing.
I finally if these are all fine and dandy, I’ll try to convert the breadboard to a PCB and build a nice waterproof casing.