Nordic Semiconductor adds support and technical expertise to international air quality monitoring initiative

Nordic Semiconductor has announced its support for the South African Consortium of Air Quality Monitoring (SACAQM), an international consortium with the collective goal of bringing together the private sector, and government and research institutions to promote and develop IoT-powered air quality monitoring and prediction technology.

Improving air quality

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year 3.2 million people die prematurely from illnesses attributable to household air pollution. Among these, 32 percent are from ischemic heart disease, 23 percent from stroke and 21 percent are due to lower respiratory infection. Poor air quality is also responsible for chronic disease.

Due to the high cost and complexity associated with the deployment of traditional air quality monitoring systems, countries are forced to allocate their limited resources to monitor certain ‘priority’ sites which necessitates the omission of others. As such, SACAQM is developing an AI-powered IoT system envisioned to address shortcomings in currently available commercial systems, in turn enabling the global proliferation of affordable air quality monitoring systems. 

Commitment to sustainability

“Nordic’s commitment to global sustainability initiatives is of paramount importance to both our company and employees,” says Magnus Pedersen, VP of Sales EMEA, Nordic Semiconductor. “We fully recognize the continuous need to consider our impact on the environment and on the communities in which we work. As such we are delighted to add our support and technical expertise to this SAAQI initiative.”

The system will consist of low-cost IoT end nodes, providing thousands of additional sensors capable of generating the necessary data for AI-powered ‘real time’ analytics, and the ability to predict future air quality. As part of the initiative, Nordic will provide development kits, samples and technical expertise. The company’s ultra-low power wireless IoT product range includes Bluetooth® LE, cellular IoT and Wi-Fi. This enables the development of air quality sensor nodes that can communicate using any or all of the world’s three most popular wireless IoT technologies.

“Our hope is that the supply of Nordic development kits and technical expertise will contribute to the overall goal of tackling the global issue of air pollution,” Pedersen added.

• About SACAQM
• About Nordic Semiconductor