Guide to publishing Shinyei sensor data on the World Air Quality Index project

This page is made for those interrested in measuring Air Quality based on the Shinyei sensor. For more information about the Shinyei sensor, please refer to this on-going experiment page: sensor/shinyei/.


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Hardware Setup

For this experiement, the hardware used to retrieve the data from the Shinyei Sensor is a PC Duino - but any Raspberry PI would also work fine.

All which is needed, on the PC Duino side, to extract the information from the Shinyei sensor is two digital input. In our configuration, we use the GPIO6 and GPIO7 from the PC Duino. Since the PC duino also provide a 5V output, we directly power supply the SHinyei from the Pc Duino pins.

For now, threshold input (IN1) is left unsed, but it will be used later as a way to split particule by size, and hence detect both PM10 and PM2.5 particules.

Scripts

The scripts are available online from github. They are based on the Air Quality data-upload API described at api/sensor.

To run the scripts, you just need to use this simple command: python shinyei-lpo-reader.py. It will output data in the following style:

 $ python shinyei-lpo-reader.py

16:51:27: 13.02 9.27
16:51:32: 10.15 3.03
16:51:37: 8.58 1.86
16:51:42: 8.97 1.01
16:51:47: 8.32 1.05
16:51:52: 8.22 1.05
16:51:57: 7.33 0.75
16:52:02: 6.72 0.75
16:52:07: 6.05 0.75
16:52:12: 6.4 0.75
16:52:17: 7.13 0.75
--- 16:52:22 --- 0.073053159646 0.00751250729585 ---
Posting {'type': 'shinyei-pdp42ns-1u', 'unit': 'lpo', 'value': 0.07305315964603189} {'type': 'shinyei-pdp42ns-2.5u', 'unit': 'lpo', 'value': 0.007512507295851456} -> 200 OK
Server says {u'sensorID': u'589', u'result': u'ok', u'dataids': [2835085, 2835086]}
Firs column is obviously the current time. The second and third column are the measured LPO (in percentage, from 0 to 100). The script measures the LPO over 1 minute, so the 'current' LPO indication will be displayed 10 times. The 1 minute average is displayed as '--- 16:52:22 --- 0.073053159646 0.00751250729585 ---' (unit from 0 to 1). After that, the averaged LPO is posted ( Posting {'type': 'shinyei-pdp42ns-1u', 'unit': 'lpo', 'value': 0.07305315964603189} {'type': 'shinyei-pdp42ns-2.5u', 'unit': 'lpo', 'value': 0.007512507295851456} -> 200 OK ) to the server.


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Configuration

Once your setup is working, do not forget to use your own sensor ID, by replacing the value "shinyei.test-sensor" in the file shinyei-lpo-reader.py with your own sensor ID. Sensor ID can be any string, but we recommand to use the convention sensor-type.(location+).your-name, such as for instance shinyei.china.beijing.haidian.john-doe.

 uploader = AirQualityUploader("shinyei.test-sensor")
Once you have choosen your own sensor ID, do not forget to protect it by password so that no-one else but you can upload data. For that, you just need to contact us and let us the ID you want to protect. We will then provide you the password to be used.

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Still to be done

There are sitll many things to be done. Si if you want to join us and support our work, here are some of the things which we need help for:
  • Hardware connectivity based on the Raspberry PI, Beagle Bonne and other IOT Hardware.
  • Use an intermediate arduino-like to poll and pre-process the data from the Shinyei.
  • Improve the python-scripts with fail-safe support (i.e. keep the data even though if there is no WIFI connection).





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Read or publish comments (they rely on Disqus)

About the Air Quality and Pollution Measurement:

About the Air Quality Levels

AQIAir Pollution LevelHealth ImplicationsCautionary Statement (for PM2.5)
0 - 50 Good Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk None
51 -100 Moderate Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
101-150 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is not likely to be affected. Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
151-200 Unhealthy Everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion
201-300 Very Unhealthy Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected. Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion.
300+ Hazardous Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health effects Everyone should avoid all outdoor exertion

To know more about Air Quality and Pollution, check the wikipedia Air Quality topic or the airnow guide to Air Quality and Your Health.

For very useful health advices of Beijing Doctor Richard Saint Cyr MD, check www.myhealthbeijing.com blog.


Usage Notice: All the Air Quality data are unvalidated at the time of publication, and due to quality assurance these data may be amended, without notice, at any time. The World Air Quality Index project has exercised all reasonable skill and care in compiling the contents of this information and under no circumstances will the World Air Quality Index project team or its agents be liable in contract, tort or otherwise for any loss, injury or damage arising directly or indirectly from the supply of this data.



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