Can solar powered, sensor-filled cubes change urban air quality monitoring?

Later this year, hundreds of cubes with solar panels will begin showing up around Baltimore.
According to Anna Scott, a PhD student studying climate science at Johns Hopkins, they hold a new way to measure air quality in the city.
With generally hotter temperatures in cities than in rural areas, temperature is key to Scott’s research. But hearing a speech at a rally about a week after unrest sparked by Freddie Gray’s death made her think differently about how to apply it.
“This young woman was saying, the city needs you, and the city needs you to do whatever it is you’re good at…It kind of changed my mind about civic engagement,” Scott said.
She set out to do something that hasn’t been done in Baltimore before — or many other cities for that matter — to learn more about addressing the area’s notoriously poor air quality.
Though scientific standards make it tricky to measure air quality in the city, the growth of internet-of-things presents new possibilities. Scott teamed with engineering grad students Chris Kelley and Yan Azdoud, as well as Dr. Ramya Ambikapathi, to begin work on the network.
It’s called the Baltimore Open Air Project.
They raised $2,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to begin an Arduino-based weather station last summer. In December, the team got a $40,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through a program called the Smart City Air Challenge.
Initially, they’re looking to get 250 sensors ready by the end of August. Some assembly is required for the cubes themselves. The group is working with Open Works and Civic Works to put them together. Inspired by Mr. Trash Wheel, they may have googly eyes.
Along with having access to light, the location will have to be close to community centers for WiFi purposes (machineQ, where are you?). The group is working with the Baltimore Office of Sustainability to connect with community groups, among other work.

Starting our #AirQuality monitor assembly today with @CivicWorksInc and our fantastic trainees. Made with ❤ in #Baltimore pic.twitter.com/TqepEhZaHY

— Baltimore Open Air (@BmoreOpenAir) July 19, 2017

Circuit boards in each cube include four gas sensors, with a main target of measuring ozone and nitrogen dioxide. They’ll collect hourly data. The idea is to create a low-power network that pulls data right from the environment.
“By digitizing the data we’ll be able to do calibrations while the sensors are out,” she said.
While there are already air quality alerts (hello Code Orange), the goal is to help collect data on a neighborhood basis. Air quality also differs depending whether you’re under trees, in a park or on the street, so it can help inform policy about different kinds of environmental fixes.

Last day of testing the sensors for our weather cubes, can't wait to get these babies out in Baltimore pic.twitter.com/OBQpzqGsy0

— Baltimore Open Air (@BmoreOpenAir) June 19, 2017

Even as they work to assemble and deploy the sensors, Scott enters the effort acknowledging that it’s an experiment. After all, one goal of the project is to prove that the network can work in a city.
“That’s kind of why you can’t buy this off the shelf,” she said. “We’re doing something new, we’re hoping it goes well, but it may not and we may learn some lessons. It may go right, and we’ll probably still learn some lessons, too.”