Siemens Mobility Limited has successfully installed the first ZephyrS air quality sensors for the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport’s (ADEPT) SMART Places Live Labs programme.
The Live Labs will see smart communication technology being integrated with established infrastructure to provide a multi-modal view of real-time traffic movements across the Thames Valley. This will include air quality data from the new EarthSense ZephyrS sensors, with these high specification, compact air quality sensors measuring a range of pollutants, as well as temperature and humidity in real-time.
Data from the sensors will be fed back to the EarthSense MyAir® data web app and Siemens Mobility’s Stratos traffic management applications, enabling public health exposure models to be produced and informing transportation, environmental and planning projects and strategies.
Wilke Reints, Managing Director of Siemens Mobility’s Intelligent Traffic Systems business in the UK, said: “The Live Labs phase is a really exciting part of the ADEPT Programme, providing local highways authorities and their partners with the opportunity to innovate, test and introduce new applications for emerging smart technologies.
“Poor air quality in towns and cities is an ever-increasing problem, with road transport contributing significantly to urban pollution. By fully integrating our ZephyrS air quality sensor with other traffic data, authorities are able to make meaningful and timely interventions through our Stratos traffic management system, implementing strategies based on reliable pollution data and prevailing air quality levels.”
Giles Perkins, Programme Director said: “The use of small sensors is an exciting development and helps highway operators understand air quality impacts in a much more local way than ever before. Understanding traffic impacts on air quality helps achieve improved quality of life in local communities and this technology will help the acceleration of this technology.”
The first group of six ZephyrS sensors have been installed by Siemens Mobility in Thatcham, Reading and Wokingham. To determine the best locations for the next group, Siemens Mobility and EarthSense are participating in further project workshops, with EarthSense supporting this work with modelling from its MappAir® high resolution air quality mapping application.
ADEPT represents local authority county, unitary and metropolitan Directors. The ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs programme is a two-year £22.9million project funded by the Department for Transport and supported by project partners SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business, EY, Kier, O2, Ringway and WSP. Local authorities are working on eight projects to introduce digital innovation across smart mobility, transport, highways maintenance, data, energy and communications. Live Labs is part of ADEPT’s SMART Places programme to support the use of digital technology in place-based services.
