Unique Project to Track Movement of Air Pollutants Kicks Off
21.10.2014Company: T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s.
T-Mobile is one of the partners in a project aimed at implementing a new system for monitoring the impacts of vehicle traffic on the environment. The system is based on sensor network technology and enables real-time tracking of the movement of air pollutants, including determination of their intensity, as opposed to standard evaluation methods using mathematical models. Unique in the Czech Republic, this solution was developed by the Department of Security Technologies and Engineering at the Faculty of Transportation Sciences of the Czech Technical University in Prague with financial assistance in the form of the TRAFFICSENSNET grant provided by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.
The system uses so-called big data, which are large volumes of data from sensor units located in the monitored territory. The data are sent via the T-Mobile network to a server (an M2M-based solution), where they are processed and stored in a database. The output consists in up-to-date information clearly displayed in picture form. Via a web browser, users see “clouds” of different colours moving above the map of the monitored location. Every colour depicts a different type of pollutant, while the colour intensity indicates the level of pollution in the particular place. Sensors measure emissions of volatile organic compounds, dust and the noise level.
“One of T-Mobile’s strategic objectives is to develop services based on big data. We have also long placed emphasis on corporate responsibility,” says Lukáš Kovárník, T-Mobile’s ICT Development Manager in charge of big data, adding: “This project aimed at the protection of people’s health and the environment perfectly combines both our strategies.”
The new monitoring system is currently being implemented in part of Prague 4 – Spořilov, where a pilot operation will then be launched. The information thus obtained should help the Prague 4 district to introduce measures aimed at more efficiently protecting people’s health and their quality of life by making it possible to to monitor the results quickly and easily. If the pilot operation is successful, the system will be expanded to more environmentally burdened locations across the Czech Republic.
