Space Apps Challenge 2017

The majority of data about the atmosphere is collected at ground level, and from satellites using weather stations located in most town centres and airports, and remote sensing satellites. There is a distinct lack of air quality data in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, with sparse data being provided in select areas from weather balloons.
Upon researching atmospheric air quality sampling, we learned that there are 8 aircraft that support the IAGOS mission. These aircraft have a $825,000 sensor weighing in at 107Kg installed to collect data during take off and landing with intermittent data sampling point during cruise. This system has a severe limitation in that there are very few data samples taken per flight and the size, weight, and cost of the system is prohibitive for mass deployment.

Our project is to make a small self contained unit which will provide air sampling data through a crowdsourcing model whereby small aircraft owners can install the unit externally on an aircraft, and data gathered will be uploaded to a website for universal access. The hardware is based on a Arduino Uno/Raspberry Pi 3 using MQ2 and MQ5 gas sensors with a MPL3115A2 barometric pressure/altitude/temperature combination sensor. We have also incorporated a GPS module for location data, and a GSM module for transmitting the small data file from the flight once the aircraft is back on the ground. The hardware is enclosed in an aerodynamic housing that has 3 pitot probes, 2 for dynamic gas sampling, and the third for static pressure gas sampling.

Initial estimates put the project at approximately $150 and 0.8Kg, thus making the unit a low-cost solution that does not introduce a significant payload weight penalty. We hope this will encourage owners to install the device on their small aircraft and help gather data for analysing the changes in our atmosphere.