Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                

An Environmental Air Pollution Monitoring System Based On The IEEE 1451 Standard For Low Cost Requirements

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 8

IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 8, NO.

4, APRIL 2008 415

An Environmental Air Pollution Monitoring System


Based on the IEEE 1451 Standard
for Low Cost Requirements
Nihal Kularatna, Senior Member, IEEE, and B. H. Sudantha, Member, IEEE

Abstract—An Environmental Air Pollution Monitoring System TABLE I


(EAPMS) for monitoring the concentrations of major air pollu- COMPARISON BETWEEN ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTS AND GAS SENSORS [6], [8]
tant gases has been developed, complying with the IEEE 1451.2
standard. This system measures concentrations of gases such as
CO, NO2 , SO2 , and O3 using semiconductor sensors. The smart
transducer interface module (STIM) was implemented using the
analog devices’ ADuC812 microconverter. Network Capable Ap-
plication Processor (NCAP) was developed using a personal com-
puter and connected to the STIM via the transducer independent
interface. Three gas sensors were calibrated using the standard
calibration methods. Gas concentration levels and information re-
garding the STIM can be seen on the graphical user interface of
the NCAP. Further, the EAPMS is capable of warning when the
pollutant levels exceed predetermined maxima and the system can
be developed into a low cost version for developing countries.
the occurrence of diseases such as lung cancer, pneumonia,
Index Terms—Air pollution monitoring, electronic data sheet, asthma, chronic bronchitis, coronary artery disease, and chronic
IEEE 1451, network capable application processor, semiconductor
gas sensors, smart transducers, transducer independent interface pulmonary diseases [4], [5].
(TII). Environmental pollution has several aspects. The most se-
rious aspect of environmental pollution is the air pollution,
while two other aspects are water and soil pollution. Any
I. INTRODUCTION hazardous gas can spread over an extensive region within a
VER THE past quarter century, there has been an expo- short-time interval causing a huge and irreparable damage
O nential increase of industries, and these industries have
caused complex and serious problems to the environment. The
[6]. Hence, there is a growing demand for the environmental
pollution monitoring and control systems. In view of the
first and the foremost is the severe environmental pollution ever-increasing pollution sources with toxic chemicals, these
which has caused deterioration of atmosphere, climate change, systems should have the facilities to detect and quantify the
stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, changes sources rapidly.
in hydrological systems and the supplies of fresh water, land
II. GAS SENSORS
degradation and stresses on systems of food producing, acid
rain, and global warming [1]. In addition to industries, automo- A gas sensor is a transducer that detects gas molecules and
biles, agricultural activities, and even ordinary homes contribute produces an electrical signal with a magnitude proportional to
towards the environmental pollution [2], particularly in some the concentration of the gas. To date, no gas sensors exist that
developing countries such as Sri Lanka [3]. Stationary and are 100% selective to a single gas. Hence, it is necessary to
mobile sources release various chemical pollutants, including use instruments that employ analytical techniques to identify
suspended particulate matter (SPM), carbon monoxide (CO), gases. Examples of such instruments are Fourier transform in-
oxides of nitrogen (NO ), oxides of sulfur (SO ), lead aerosol, frared (FTIR) instruments, gas chromatographs, and mass spec-
volatile organic compounds (VOC), and other toxics. It is well trometers. These instruments provide fairly accurate and selec-
known that some of these chemical pollutants have increased tive gas readings. However, these analytical instruments suffer
from disadvantages such as: (i) the requirement of skilled op-
Manuscript received October 22, 2007; accepted November 29, 2007. The
erators; (ii) expensive; (iii) designed for laboratory tabletops or
associate editor coordinating the review of this paper and approving it for pub- specific online applications for in-plant installations; (iv) high
lication was Prof. Evgeny Katz. maintenance cost; (v) slow response time; and (vi) large size
N. Kularatna is with the Department of Engineering, School of Science and
Engineering, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand (e-mail:
[7]. These reasons make them impractical for area air quality
nihalkul@waikato.ac.nz; nihalkul@xtra.co.nz). and safety, particularly in developing countries. Therefore, a gas
B. H. Sudantha is with the Department of Physics, University of Sri Jayawar- sensor that is compact, robust, with versatile applications, and
danepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda 10250, Sri Lanka. low cost could be an equally effective alternative [6]. Table I
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. presents several feature comparisons between gas sensors and
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2008.917477 analytical instruments.
1530-437X/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
416 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 8, NO. 4, APRIL 2008

TABLE II
CLASSIFICATION OF SENSOR MATERIALS [8], [15]

Recent research and development on solid-state gas sensors


have improved their performances dramatically [6]. Five com-
monly used technologies for gas monitors are: electrochemical,
infrared, catalytic bead, photo ionization, and solid-state [7].
More details of these sensors including their usage, lifetime, ad-
vantages, and disadvantages could be found in [9]–[12]. Fig. 1. Typical sensitivity characteristics of a SnO based CO sensor [16], [17].
Modern semiconductor gas sensors are capable of detecting
more than 150 different gases. They have many advantages in-
cluding longer lifetime than catalytic bead and electrochemical where
sensors, lower cost, and compact size. These sensors are widely
used in various applications: automotive, consumer, commer- electrical resistance of the sensor;
cial, industrial, indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring, and electrical resistance of sensor at zero ppm;
environmental monitoring [13], [14].
a constant for particular;
III. SEMICONDUCTOR GAS SENSORS gas concentration in ppm.
A semiconductor sensor consists of one or more metal oxides The low cost semiconductor sensors are suitable to use in an
such as tin oxide, aluminum oxide, etc. When heated to a high array form for low cost environment pollution monitoring sys-
temperature, an n-type semiconductor material decreases its re- tems. Such an array could be enhanced with additional tempera-
sistance, while p-type increases the resistance in the presence of ture, pressure, and relative humidity sensors to measure the pol-
a reducing gas [8]. Table II shows the details. lutant concentrations together with other physical parameters,
Typically, a semiconductor sensor produces a strong signal, with the advantage of better calibration of the gas sensors.
especially at high gas concentrations [14], [16], [17] with
adequate sensitivity, fast response time, long-term stability, and V. AIR POLLUTION AND AIR QUALITY STANDARDS
longer lifetime. However, the main disadvantage is the lack of
Air pollution is a major environmental health threat to hu-
selectivity. These disadvantages and secondary problems have
mans and especially children. For children under five, it can
been rectified by using the special strategies, further details
cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer
could be found in [15] and [18].
in adults. Acute lower respiratory track infections, especially
pneumonia, are the biggest killers of young children and cause
IV. THEORY OF OPERATION
more than 2 million annual deaths [19]. The illnesses and their
The conductivity of the sensing element, which is formed by effects caused by the pollutants could be found in [2], and
metal-oxide semiconductor material, changes according to gas [21]–[27].
concentration. For example, in an n-type SnO sensing mate- More than 384 hazardous gases have been identified in the
rial when the SnO crystal is heated to a certain temperature in environment [20]. However, of these gases six pollutants: CO,
air, oxygen is absorbed at the solid-gas interface of the sensor NO , ground level O , SO , particulate matter (PM), and lead
and forms surface oxygen ions with negative charge, creating a are the most dangerous and are known as “the common air pol-
potential barrier against electron flow between SnO particles. lutants” or “criteria air pollutants.”
This potential barrier increases the resistivity of the material pre- Several clean air quality standards are published by various
venting carriers from moving freely. authorities and institutes in the world. Tables III and IV show the
In the presence of a reducing gas, the surface density of the common air pollutant concentrations in WHO standards and the
negative oxygen ions decreases. Consequently, the height of the local standards in Sri Lanka where this work was carried out.
potential barrier decreases and as a result, the resistivity of the
material falls according to a logarithmic function. This charac- VI. IEEE 1451 STANDARD FOR A SMART TRANSDUCER
teristic is illustrated in Fig. 1. INTERFACE FOR SENSORS AND ACTUATORS
The correlation of the sensor resistance ( ) and the concen-
tration of a reducing gas ( ) can be expressed in the following The objectives of the IEEE P1451-Standards for Smart
general function [8], [16], [17]: Transducer Interface for Sensors and Actuators were to define a
set of common communication interfaces for connecting trans-
ducers to microprocessor-based systems, instruments, and field
(1) networks in a network-independent environment. The IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
KULARATNA AND SUDANTHA: AN ENVIRONMENTAL AIR POLLUTION MONITORING SYSTEM BASED ON THE IEEE 1451 STANDARD 417

TABLE III TABLE V


WHO AIR QUALITY GUIDELINES [28] SPECIFICATIONS OF THE GAS SENSORS USED IN THE EAPMS

TABLE IV
AIR QUALITY REGULATIONS OF SRI LANKA [29]

Fig. 3. Signal conditioning and conversion circuits and ADuC812 connections.


Fig. 2. Detailed block diagram of the environmental air pollution monitoring
system.

response. To maintain the stability of the device, it is impor-


1451 standard makes it easier for transducer manufacturers and tant to regulate the operating temperature of the sensor. Typical
system designers to develop smart devices and to interface those characteristic curves and other details of the sensors are given
devices to networks, systems, and instruments. This standard is in [36]–[38].
comprised of seven parts and each of them has different aspects A gas sensing standard module consisting of a built-in semi-
of the interface standard [30]–[35]. In this project, the standard conductor ozone sensor and a signal conditioning circuit was
1451.2 was used to implement the smart transducer interface used for ozone with a response time of about 1 min, long life-
module (STIM) with semiconductor gas sensors. time, small size, and low-power consumption (1 W maximum).
The module has a direct signal output line with a full-scale range
VII. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SENSOR ARRAY AND STIM of 0 to 1 V in the presence of ozone 0–100 ppb [39].
The sensors were connected to signal conditioning circuits.
A. Sensor Array Consequently, the output signals were fed to ADC channels of
the ADuC812 microconverter for conversion into digital form.
The Environmental Air Pollution Monitoring System
Fig. 3 depicts the signal conditioning and conversion block of
(EAPMS) measures concentrations of major air pollutant gases,
the system.
CO, NO , SO , and O using a semiconductor sensor array.
The sensor array is connected to the STIM. In addition to that
B. Smart Transducer Interface Module (STIM)
a warning generation buzzer is also connected. The STIM is
linked to an Network Capable Application Processor (NCAP) The STIM must be capable of handling the actuator inter-
PC through transducer independent interface (TII). Fig. 2 face, supporting TEDS, communicating with NCAP, and sup-
depicts the block diagram of the EAPMS. porting 1451.2 TII interface. Hence, a microcontroller had to
Table V shows some details of the sensors used in the be selected considering the above facts. Therefore, Analog De-
EAPMS. All the gas sensors listed in Table V have high vices ADuC812 Microconverter was chosen to implement the
sensitivity and selectivity to target gas. All three sensors have STIM. It has almost all the facilities for STIM implementation
similar characteristics such as improved range and repeatability, [40]. The ADuC812 is a fully integrated 12-bit data acquisition
relatively insensitivity to fluctuations in relative humidity, and system incorporating a high-performance self-calibrating mul-
can operate in reducing conditions, low-power consumption, tichannel ADC, dual DAC, and programmable 8-bit 8051-com-
and long lifetime [36]–[38]. patible MCU on a single chip. The 8051-compatible core is sup-
All are chip type sensors where the sensing material is con- ported by 8 kB flash/EE program memory, 640 bytes flash/EE
stantly heated to approximately 400 C in order to receive gas data memory, and 256 bytes data SRAM on chip. Additionally,

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
418 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 8, NO. 4, APRIL 2008

TABLE VI
ENUMERATION OF THE CHANNELS DEFINED IN THE STIM

Fig. 4. Memory map of the flash/EE data flash.

MCU supports more functions. I C compatible, SPI and stan-


dard UART serial port I/O are provided for multiprocessor in-
terfaces and I/O expansion [41].
The 1451.2 interface requires eight signal lines, TEDS
requires flash/EE memory space, transducer interface needs
ADCs, DACs and several other I/O lines, and STIM control
program needs flash/EE program memory. The ADuC812 was
quite suitable for implementing the STIM [41].

VIII. STRUCTURE OF TRANSDUCER ELECTRONIC DATA


SHEET (TEDS)
Fig. 5. TII hardware implementation.
The TEDS was created in the 640 bytes on-chip flash/EE data
memory of the ADuC812. In this application, mandatory TEDS
were defined including Meta-TEDS and five Channel TEDS for
IX. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRANSDUCER INDEPENDENT
transducers. These TEDS must be resident in the flash/EE data
INTERFACE (TII)
memory for the lifetime of STIM. No modification is required
for the current set of transducers and modification should be The TII was established as the communication channel be-
carried out, if there is any change of transducers. tween the STIM and the NCAP based on the data transfer proto-
The ADuC812 flash data memory area consists of 640 bytes cols specified by the IEEE 1451.2 standard. As shown in Fig. 5,
(0 280 bytes) that are configured into 160 (Page 0 00 to one of the destinations of the interface was the STIM and the
Page 0 9 F), 4-byte pages. It is accessed one page (4 bytes) other was the parallel port of the NCAP PC. A parallel port was
at a time basis. Thus, the address space of the memory area is selected to implement the TII, because the TII has ten lines in-
0 00 to Page 0 9 F [41]. Hence, the TEDS were arranged, cluding eight signal lines and two power lines.
as depicted in the Fig. 4. The IEEE 1284 parallel port standard [45] defines five oper-
The data structure of Meta-TEDS data block contains 29 ating modes including most common SPP, EPP, and ECP. Of
fields including TEDS version number, globally unique identi- these three modes EPP and ECP are having transfer rates of
fier (UUID), number of implemented channels, and maximum about 500 kBps–2 MBps [42]. The output of the parallel port
data rate [30]. Further details of the TEDS types are in [30]. A is normally TTL compatible logic levels. Thus, a parallel port
Channel TEDS contains 30 data fields. Five channel TEDS were of a PC was used to implement the TII. However, the NCAP
also defined in the data flash area. These Meta and Channel should be capable of providing the power to the STIM which is
TEDS were created in the flash memory by the main STIM no more than 75 mA. This requirement could not be achieved
implementation C program and the supporting header files. because a parallel port can sink or source only around 12 mA
TEDS were written starting from the first field placing the most (according to the various PC manuals, the current varies from
significant byte first. 4 to 20 mA). Therefore, a separate power supply was used and
In the EAPMS, the STIM has been built with six channels in order to comply with the standard, the supplying of power
including Channel-0. Channel-0 was configured as global by was controlled by the NCAP via parallel port. Consequently,
specifying all channels and other mandatory information. Sub- the signal lines were connected to a bus transceiver at the STIM
sequently, CO, NO , SO , and O gas sensors have been con- end.
nected to Channel-1 to Channel-4, respectively. The warning On the STIM side, TII was connected to SPI lines of the
generator buzzer was connected to Channel-5. Table VI shows ADuC812 and to some digital I/O lines. The TII is a superset
the details of the channels used. of the SPI and therefore, DCLK, DIN, DOUT, and NIOE lines

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
KULARATNA AND SUDANTHA: AN ENVIRONMENTAL AIR POLLUTION MONITORING SYSTEM BASED ON THE IEEE 1451 STANDARD 419

were connected to SPI lines. The complete TII hardware imple-


mentation is illustrated in Fig. 5 depicting power control and hot
swap capability.

X. GENERAL PROTOCOLS
The data transfer functions have been implemented using
the protocols described in the IEEE 1451.2. The triggering and
data transport functions and controlling of the data rate are
handled by the NCAP. A data transport frame begins by the
NCAP sending an address to the STIM. The complete address
specifies whether data are to be written or to be read from the
STIM, and which channel and functions are involved.
Triggering is normally used before reading a sensor or after
writing to an actuator. Data is transferred in bit-serial format
from the NCAP to the STIM via D and from the STIM to the
NCAP via D under the control of DCLK [30]. Byte read
and write transfer functions and frame read and write transfer
functions (between NCAP and STIM) [30].
The active control of power method enables the NCAP in
order to provide power only if the STIM is present. This elim-
inates the possibility of shorts in devices. The active control of
power method was implemented in EAPMS by detecting the
STIM and providing power to the STIM only in the presence of
STIM.

XI. THE STIM KERNAL—MAIN CONTROL PROGRAM


The STIM kernel program has three main functions: trigger,
data transport, and interrupt. Each of these functions has special
tasks and works cooperatively with the NCAP. The functions Fig. 6. STIM kernel flow chart.
have been integrated in the STIM kernel and its flow chart is
illustrated in Fig. 6.
After receiving power, the STIM kernel executes all initializa-
tions routines including the TII initialization, memory clearing
processes, loading the TEDS, setting the channel data buffers,
and status registers. Subsequently, it enters into an infinite loop
and goes through the processes, as shown in the flow chart. The
STIM kernel program comprises several software modules de-
veloped using the C language. Having compiled, these mod-
ules have been downloaded into the 8 kB flash/EE program
memory of the ADuC812.

XII. THE NCAP PROGRAM


The NCAP program has two main sub programs: controlling
of the STIM and providing the graphical user interface (GUI).
The STIM controlling program executes triggering, data trans-
port, and interrupt request functions. In addition, it also supports
the TII through the parallel port and controls the STIM power
with the facility of active power control [43].
The GUI displays the STIM information, gas concentrations,
and the status of the STIM. Moreover, it provides the facility to
add the user interactions to trigger the STIM and send functional
addresses to the required channel. The NCAP program was de-
veloped using the Visual Basic 6.0 language. A screen shot of Fig. 7. A screen shot of the NCAP GUI.
the NCAP GUI is shown in Fig. 7.

XIII. CALIBRATION OF THE GAS SENSORS chamber calibration method was selected to calibrate the sen-
There are two calibration methods that are available: static sors of the array. The static chamber was constructed using inert
chamber method and dynamic chamber method. The static and silicon free materials because volatile organic silicones will

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
420 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 8, NO. 4, APRIL 2008

Fig. 10. CO concentration (48%–55% RH, 23 C–25 C).


Fig. 8. CO calibration curve.

be measured accurately due to the inability of determination


of the inside free space. Therefore, approximated values were
used for the sensor volumes.
The random errors were introduced during the gas injection
processes. The standard medical syringes were used to inject
the gases to the calibration chambers. The systematic error of
the calibration was a small value compared with the random
error. This shows that the contribution of the systematic error to
the final uncertainty was very low. Therefore, to minimize the
final error the random errors were to be minimized. This can
be done using the calibration instruments manufactured with
Fig. 9. SO calibration curve.
higher accuracy.

XV. RESULTS
deteriorate the sensor surface and, hence, degrade the sensor The main goal of this project was to build an environmental
performance [8]. air pollution monitoring system (EAPMS) which is capable
The calibration procedure has been carried out in two steps: of measuring common air pollutant concentrations using a
first finding the initial position (zero) of the sensor and second semiconductor sensor array and the IEEE 1451 standards, es-
determining the span of the sensor. To find the zero value of pecially the IEEE 1451.2 standard. Having aimed towards this
a sensor, it is required to use “zero air.” However, there is no goal, several hardware and software implementation modules
established standard that defines “zero air” [44]. Many labora- such as the semiconductor sensor array, the STIM, the TII, and
tories use pure nitrogen or pure synthetic air to calibrate the zero the NCAP program have been successfully developed. These
point. By contrast, some others who refuse the synthetic air use modules were built using the guidelines provided by the IEEE
ambient air when the area is considered to be clean. 1451.2 standard.
Both zero air types were used. The CO sensor was calibrated The sensors were calibrated using the standard static chamber
with the bottled synthetic zero air, while SO was calibrated method and, hence, the instrument can be used in real environ-
using the clean air in the laboratory. Ambient temperature and ment to measure the ambient air pollution levels of the above
humidity of the laboratory were measured daily and the calibra- mentioned gases. The current pollutant levels of the target gases
tion procedure was carried out when the temperature was in the can be directly read from the NCAP GUI.
range of 20 C–25 C, while the relative humidity was in the These sensors are highly vulnerable to silicon-based chemi-
range of 45%–50%. This procedure was adopted as there was cals, and care was taken when the system is used in such envi-
no way of controlling the temperature and the relative humidity ronments. This type of chemicals such as volatile organic sil-
of the laboratory. Figs. 8 and 9 depict the calibration curves of icones will deteriorate the sensor surface and, hence, degrade
CO and SO , respectively. the sensor performance. Sometimes, depending on the expo-
sure level, these can cause an irreversible damage to the sensors.
XIV. THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE MEASUREMENTS In addition, the sensors have minor fluctuations to relative hu-
There were two types of errors: systematic and random midity and ambient temperature. Normally, the sensors function
which can be identified in the calibration procedure. The properly at 50% RH and 21 C.
systematic errors occurred with the determination of the cal- The sets of field measurement readings of CO, NO , and
ibration chamber volume, volumes of the sensors, volume of SO sensors were recorded at a normal laboratory environment,
the mixer fan, and other supporting parts within the calibration while the O sensor measurement was taken near a photocopy
chamber. These errors were minimized using the accurate machine. Figs. 10–12 show the concentration levels of the
measuring instruments. However, the sensor volumes could not places over a certain time period.

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
KULARATNA AND SUDANTHA: AN ENVIRONMENTAL AIR POLLUTION MONITORING SYSTEM BASED ON THE IEEE 1451 STANDARD 421

The five “smart” transducers have the “plug-and-play” capa-


bility: the gas pollutant monitoring STIM can be moved from
one NCAP to another. This capability provided by the standard
is a great advantage to the system designers and sensor manufac-
turers, and it reduces the burden of designing various products
to suit various networks.
The semiconductor gas sensors can be successfully used to
monitor the target gas concentrations. The usage of the semi-
conductor sensors adds several advantages to a system such as
low cost, quick response, low maintenance, ability to produce
continuous measurements, etc.

Fig. 11. NO and SO concentration (48%–55% RH, 23 C–25 C). REFERENCES


[1] WHO, “Global Environmental Change,” World Health Organization,
Geneva, Switzerland, 2005.
[2] WHO, “Chemical Hazards,” World Health Organization, Geneva,
Switzerland, 2005.
[3] Urban Air Quality Management Project, “Vehicle emissions and pollu-
tion costs,” Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Sri Lanka,
2003, pp. 59–65.
[4] Air Resource Management Centre, “Vehicle-related air pollutants and
public health,” Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Sri
Lanka, May 2003, pp. 6–11.
[5] Urban Air Quality Management Project, “Impact of fuel changes on
exhaust and evaporative emissions,” Ministry of Environment and Nat-
ural Resources, Sri Lanka, May 2003, pp. 75–85.
[6] D. D. Lee and D. S. Lee, “Environmental gas sensors,” IEEE Sensors
J., vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 214–215, Oct. 2001.
[7] IST, Chapter 1—Introduction International Sensor Technology, pp.
1–4.
[8] Capteur Sensors, “Principle of operation,” General Information on the
Capteur NGL07 Carbon Monoxide Sensors, Capteur Sensors, U.K.,
Fig. 12. O concentration (48%–53% RH, 23 C–27 C). 2000, pp. 1–13.
[9] IST, Chapter 3—“Catalytic Bead Combustible Gas Sensors,” Interna-
tional Sensor Technology, CA, pp. 37–45. [Online]. Available: http://
www.intlsensor.com/
XVI. FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS [10] IST, Chapter 5—“Infrared Gas Sensors,” International Sensor Tech-
1) A relative humidity sensor and a temperature sensor could nology, CA, pp. 55–72. [Online]. Available: http://www.intlsensor.
com/
be added to simultaneously monitor the RH and tempera- [11] IST, Chapter 6—“Photoionization Detectors,” International Sensor
ture values and use it for improving uncertainties. Technology, CA, pp. 73–81. [Online]. Available: http://www.
2) In the current version of the EAPMS, the STIM is working intlsensor.com/
[12] IST, Chapter 8—“Sensor Selection Guide,” International Sensor Tech-
under the control of the NCAP. However, if the STIM is nology, CA, pp. 103–109. [Online]. Available: http://www.intlsensor.
improved with an LCD display unit and memories, it can be com/
used as a standalone portable instrument and a data logger. [13] “Sensor Industry Developments and Trends,” Sensors Express, Nov.
2002. [Online]. Available: www.sensorsmag.com
3) The NCAP program currently controls the STIM with 1000 [14] IST, Chapter 4—“Solid State Gas Sensors,” International Sensor Tech-
kb/s fixed clock rate. This clock rate should be improved nology, CA, pp. 47–48.
by receiving the direct PC clock rates. [15] City Technology, Semiconductor Sensors, City Technology
Ltd. Hampshire, U.K.
4) Another useful improvement to the system is developing a [16] FIS, Sensors and Systems Technology—Products Review. Osaka,
“wireless link” between the STIM and the NCAP. This is Japan, FIS Inc., Jun. 1998, pp. 5–16.
useful for remote monitoring and air pollution monitoring [17] FIGARO, Technical Information on Usage of TGS Sensors for Toxic
and Explosive Gas Leak Detectors. Osaka, Japan, Figaro Engineering
without user interaction. The IEEE P1451.5 wireless stan- Inc., Nov. 2004, pp. 2–6.
dard can be used for the development. [18] E. Llobet et al., “Multicomponent gas mixture analysis using a single
5) Based on the improvement suggested in 2 and 4, the mul- tin oxide sensor and dynamic pattern recognition,” IEEE Sensors J.,
vol. 1, no. 3, p. 207, Oct. 2001.
tiple devices of the system can be installed near highly con- [19] WHO, “Air pollution,” Children’s Environmental Health (CEH),
gested roads for data collection from a central location. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2005.
[20] IST, “Hazardous Gas Data,” International Sensor Technology, CA, pp.
XVII. CONCLUSION 1–2.
[21] U.S. EPA, “What are the six common air pollutants?,” U.S. Environ-
The environmental air pollution monitoring system has been mental Protection Agency, Mar. 2005. [Online]. Available: www.epa.
successfully implemented in compliance with the IEEE 1451.2 gov, U.S. EPA, Official Web page, last up-date on 24th Mar.2005
[22] U.S. EPA, “CO: What is it? Where does it come from?,” Six Common
standard with the main functional blocks: the STIM, the TII, and Air Pollutants U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mar. 2005.
the NCAP. Therefore, the goal of the IEEE 1451.2 standard is [23] U.S. EPA, “NO : What is it? Where does it come from?,” Six Common
to provide an industry standard interface to efficiently connect Air Pollutants, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mar. 2005.
[24] U.S. EPA, “Ground level ozone: What is it? Where does it come from?,”
transducers to microcontrollers and to connect microcontrollers Six Common Air Pollutants, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
to networks was achieved. Mar. 2005.

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
422 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 8, NO. 4, APRIL 2008

[25] U.S. EPA, “SO : What is it? Where does it come from?, Six Common [43] S. Muller, Upgrading and Repairing PCs,15th Anniversary ed. QUE
Air Pollutants, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mar. 2005. Corporation, Pearson Education, 2004, pp. 971–974.
[26] U.S. EPA, “PM—How particulate matter affects the way we live & [44] IST, “Gas sensor calibration,” International Sensor Technology, CA,
breathe,” Six Common Air Pollutants, U.S. Environmental Protection USA, ch. 11, pp. 161–173, Chapter.
Agency, Mar. 2005. [45] IEEE Standard for Data Delivery and Logical Channels for IEEE 1284
[27] AIRNOW, “A guide to air quality and your health,” Air Quality Index, Interfaces, 2000, Page(s): i-51.
A Cross-Agency U.S. Government Web Site. 24th Mar. 2005. [Online].
Available: www.epa.gov/airnow
[28] Air Quality Guidelines for Europe, 2nd ed. Copenhagen, Denmark:
WHO Regional Publications, 2000, pp. 149–152, Edition, European
Series No. 91, pp. 77, pp. 175–196. Nihal Kularatna (SM’98) received the B.Sc.Eng.
[29] Sri Lankan Government, The National Environment Act, No. 47 of (Hon.) degree from the University of Peradeniya,
1980, Ministry of Transport, Highway, Environment and Women’s Af- Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 1976.
fairs, Gazette Extraordinary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of After ten years of employment in the aviation and
Sri Lanka, Oct. 1984. telecommunications industries, he joined the Arthur
[30] IEEE Standard for a Smart Transducer Interface for Sensors and Ac- C. Clarke institute for Modern Technologies, Sri
tuators—Transducer to Microprocessor Communication Protocols and Lanka, as an R&D Engineer in 1985. He reached
Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) Formats, IEEE Standard the principal research engineer status in 1990 and
1451.2–1997, IEEE, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi- was appointed the Director/CEO of the institution in
neers, Inc., NY, 1997. 2000. He was a consultant for two U.S. companies
[31] R. L. Fischer and J. Burch, “The PICmicro MCU as an IEEE 1451.2 and to many Sri Lankan organizations. From 2002 to
Compatible Smart Transducer Interface Module (STIM),” Microchip 2005, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Technology Inc., 2000, Application Note. AN214. Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand and he is currently with the
[32] N. Kularatna, “Sensors,” in Modern Component Families and Circuit University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. He is on the Expert Reviewer
Block Design. Woburn, MA: Butterworth- Heinemann, 2000, ch. 7, Panel of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST), New
pp. 330–333. Zealand. He has authored six books including Volumes 10 and 11 of the
[33] NIST, IEEE-P1451 Draft Standard for Smart Transducer Interface for Electrical Measurement Series books for the IEE (London). His most recent
Sensors and Actuators, National Institute of Standards and Technology, book is titled Electronic Circuit Design-From Concept to Implementation
IEEE 1451, Nov. 2001. [Online]. Available: www.nist.gov (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2008). He has contributed over 60 papers to
[34] K. Lee, A Synopsis of the IEEE P1451—Standards for Smart Trans- and was the principal author of the McGraw Hill (Datapro) report Sri Lanka
ducer Communication. Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Stan- Telecoms—An Industry and Market Analysis (1997). He is currently active
dards and Technology, p. 1. in research in transient propagation and power conditioning area in power
[35] K. B. Lee and R. D. Schneeman, “A standardized approach for trans- electronics, and smart sensor systems.
ducer interfacing: Implementing IEEE-P1451 smart transducer inter- Mr. Kularatna is a Fellow of the IET (London), a Fellow of the Institution of
face draft standards,” in Proc. Sensors Expo, Oct. 1996, pp. 88–97. Engineers (Sri Lanka), and a Member of The Institution of Professional Engi-
[36] Analog Devices, The ADuC812 MicroConverter™ as an IEEE 1451.2 neers, New Zealand. During his career in Sri Lanka he was a winner of Presi-
Compatible Smart Transducer Interface, MicroConverter® Technical dential Awards for Inventions (1995), the Most Outstanding Citizens Awards in
Note—uC003 The ADuC812 as an IEEE 1451.2 STIM Analog De- 1999 (Lions Club), and a TOYP Award for academic accomplishment (Jaycees)
vices, Inc. Norwood, Sep. 1999. in 1993.
[37] IEEE Standard for a Smart Transducer Interface for Sensors and Actu-
ators—Network Capable Application Processor (NCAP) Information
Model, IEEE Sandard 1451.1–1999, 1999.
[38] Capteur Sensors Data Sheet, NGL07: Carbon Monoxide Sensor, Issue
2.1, Capteur Sensors U.K., 2000. B. H. Sudantha (M’05) graduated from the Uni-
[39] Capteur Sensors Data Sheet, LGS10: Nitrogen Dioxide Sensor, Issue versity of Sri Jayawardanepura, Gangodawila,
5.1, Capteur Sensors U.K., 1999. Nugegoda, Sri Lanka, in 1994 and received the the
[40] Capteur Sensors Data Sheet, GS22: Sulfur Dioxide Sensor, Issue 5.1, M.Phil. degree from the University of Sri Jayawar-
Capteur Sensors U.K., 1999. danepura in 2005.
[41] FIS Inc. Data Sheet, Standard Module for Ozone SDM-03-05 and-06, He is a Senior Lecturer with the Department of
Aug. 2002, FIS Inc., Osaka, Japan. Physics, University of Sri Jayawardanepura. His
[42] Analog Devices Data Sheet, The ADuC812 MicroConverter® Multi- research interests are in embedded systems, semi-
channel 12-bit ADC with Embedded FLASH MCU, REV.B Analog conductor sensor applications, and instrumentation
Devices, Inc. Norwood, 2001. systems.

Authorized licensed use limited to: GITAM University. Downloaded on August 29,2022 at 06:18:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

You might also like