Wearable chemical sensors for public health-based business models
The monitoring of sources and sinks of air pollutants and green house gases (GhG) is no longer a purely scientific task but transcends to all areas of human life. In recent years it has become abundantly clear that exposure to and evolution of air pollutants is a fundamental parameter for health and well-being of the general population as well as a corner stone in next generation agriculture and safety applications. However, currently no technologies or even technology concepts for high resolution, large-scale monitoring are available that could enable a quantification of pollutant/GhG concentrations and fluxes at relevant temporal and/or spatial scales. Currently, commercially available state-of-the–art sensors or satellite-based methods fail to strike the balance between reasonable investment and necessary accuracy for larger scale monitoring.
WoePal UG possesses a unique and disruptive photoacoustic gas detection technology, that enables the fabrication of miniaturized, highly selective and sensitive gas analyser systems for the most important GhGs (CO2, CH4) and air pollutants (NO2, CO, SO2, O3). Due to the reduced size, weight, and prize, WoePal is in a unique position to produce wearable, low-power consuming gas analysers with unrivalled performance. Using wireless communication protocols, each person wearing such a device can be converted into a mobiles gas-sensing node. Based on this basic sensorial hardware, WoePal plans to use sensor network technology to develop an innovative, transferable solution to a number of industrial, scientific and societal challenges by providing high quality, ground truth information about GhG fluxes and concentrations.
The innovation associate's objective is therefore to extend current hardware capabilities and sensor knowledge at WoePal UG to enable and provide additional services where the measurements are combined with modelling to deliver solutions which are tailored to the needs and demands of users.