Safe and Sound - Invisible Hazardous Environmental Factors Monitoring System - blog 1 of 23

dougw

19 Feb 2017

Are you worried about the side effects of being near power lines?

Are you concerned about the possible side effects of cell phone radiation?

Have you wondered if Wi-Fi radiation is safe?

Are you curious whether there is significant stray radiation from your microwave oven?

Are you uneasy about exposure to radon gas?

Are you nervous about high levels of CO or CO₂ in the air you breathe?

Are you anxious about low levels of oxygen in the air you breathe?

Are you apprehensive about exposure to ultra violet light?

All of these potential hazards are factors in modern life, but they are invisible and not easy to detect with our built-in human senses. This project is an entry in the Safe and Sound Design Challenge - dealing with how to stay safe and sound in an environment that includes these factors. It will attempt to cover four aspects of these invisible environmental factors:

Which environmental factors are worth addressing to help keep us safe and sound? How dangerous are they?
How can we measure and monitor these environmental factors? Can we develop appropriate wearable instrumentation to accomplish this?
Take some measurements to see what a typical environment contains. Do we need to take action?
Figure out some practical methods we can use to mitigate or minimize our risks. How can we keep ourselves safe and sound?

This introduction to the project already outlines the main factors that will be covered in the first aspect above but future blogs will go into more depth on why these factors were chosen.

However the next blog in this project will outline the wearable instrumentation that I proposed to develop to measure these factors.

I am enthusiastic to take on this project and anticipate I will need to learn a great deal to complete the ambitious objectives.

Links to relevant design challenge pages are here:

Safe and Sound main page

Safe & Sound Wearables: About This Challenge

Safe & Sound Design Challenge: The Challengers

Links to all blogs that document this project will be listed right here:

Safe and Sound - Invisible Hazardous Environmental Factors Monitoring System - blog 1 of 23 - blog 1

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factors System - Development Plan - blog 2

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factor - UV Light - blog 3

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factor - Air Quality - blog 4

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Gasses PCB - blog 5

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factor - Radon - blog 6

Safe and Sound - Invisible Hazards System - Kit Unboxing - blog 7

Safe and Sound - MSP-EXP432P401 & Sharp LCD - blog 8

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factors MQTT Broker - blog 9

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factors Sensor PCB - blog 10

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Environmental Factors - ELF - blog 11

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factors MQTT Subscriber & Publisher - blog 12

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factors System - ARM Car - blog 13

Safe and Sound - Environmental Factors - Wearables - blog 14

Safe and Sound - Environmental Factors - Microwaves - blog 15

Safe and Sound - Environmental Factors - GAS Sensors - blog 16

Safe and Sound - Hazardous Factors Monitoring System - Gas Sensors Module - blog 17

Safe and Sound - Invisible Hazardous Environmental Factors Monitoring System - blog 18

Safe and Sound - Cell Phone Shield Test - blog 19

Safe and Sound - Invisible Hazards Project Spin-offs - blog 20

Safe and Sound - Gas Sensor Demo - blog 21

Safe and Sound - Ultraviolet Light Tests - blog 22

Safe and Sound - Invisible Hazardous Environmental Factors Monitoring System Conclusions - blog 23

The Prize:

Phantom 4 Unboxing

Top Comments

brotherbob over 9 years ago

Dougal,

Any chance of adding outgassing from all the plastic crap in the house (Like carpets and paint).

Here is an even tougher one...

Most clothing these days is made from plastics, some of which are surreptitiously treated with noxious fire-retardants. These plastics degrade over time and, combined with abrasion, release powdered plastics into the house environment. These powders can be inhaled most likely not enhancing your life. Now, think of the plastic powder coated with fire-retardent, and its now time to go and arrest someone.
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jkutzsch over 9 years ago in reply to dougw

Lol, love it. I hadn't factored in the toddler age and was not sure that many adults would be successful on using that without washing the tablet. To be truthful not sure many boy toddlers would either with the range and focus of the tablet. :-)

I remember when a cheerio was a fancy training aid. :-) Thanks for clarifying.
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dougw over 9 years ago in reply to jkutzsch

Its a potty trainer for toddlers - with built-in tablet to keep them interested enough to stay in place. Aside from radiation concerns, it might be comical later in life to be afflicted with a sudden urge to tinkle every time you see a Smurf.
And no, I don't have one.
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jkutzsch over 9 years ago

Very intriguing, this will be fascinating to see how it all wraps together and works.

I have to ask though, what is this object?
Have you wondered if Wi-Fi radiation is safe?

My first guess can't be right.... :-)
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beacon_dave over 9 years ago

On a similar note, the 'Bristol is Open' project over here in the UK is trialling a technology called 'BuggyAir' which is a environmental sensor pack that is designed to be fitted to prams to capture exposure of young children to air pollution. There was a variant for bicycles as well.

May be of interest, although I can't find the video clip which contains interviews with users of the technology.

https://www.iotacademy.org/group/buggyair
http://superflux.in/index.php/work/buggyair/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROKydMx9EGs
http://www.bristolisopen.com/
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