Build Your Own Air Quality Monitor: Citizen Science at Lifefabs

Make your own DIY pollution monitor and discover a world of sensors, hardware and physical computing Air pollution is one of London’s biggest public health problems, yet official monitoring stations are surprisingly sparse. Pollution can change dramatically from one street to the next, so the more sensors we have, the clearer the picture. Lifefabs Insitute: Community biofabrication lab is changing this. Where you can be part of a citizen-led network filling gaps with DIY pollution monitoring, building one of your own as part of a citizen science movement. What you’ll do Over 2 hours, you’ll assemble a working Sensor.Community air quality station from an ESP8266 microcontroller and two sensors: one for fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and one for temperature, humidity and air pressure. We’ll flash the open-source firmware, wire everything up, and get your station talking to WiFi. We’ll also cover: • How to register your sensor on the Sensor.Community map, so residents, researchers and policymakers can see your data • Where to place it for useful readings (ideally 1.5–3.5m above street level, with good airflow) • Simple weatherproofing using off-the-shelf drainpipe fittings and 3D printing. • Hardware, wiring and soldering. • How to integrate it to home assistant. You can leave with a working monitor ready to mount at home, school or work, or leave it behind for us to place somewhere understanding of how your readings feed a global open dataset. Who it’s for Anyone curious about air quality, electronics or community science. No experience needed. There’s a small amount of soldering, and we’ll guide you through it (or have pre-soldered parts available). What’s included Full Ticket: a full kit to take home: ESP8266 dev board, SDS011 particulate sensor, BME280 environmental sensor, and jumper wires (you'll need your own micro USB cable). Online follow-along: come follow the workshop online, discovering how to put a monitoring kit together in your city. Notes from the previous workshop: https://thod.dev/2024/05/29/sensor-community-emfcamp-workshop Meet your instructor Tom Hodson is a reformed Physicst, former weather programmer, and hardware hacker, with interests in 3D Printing, PCB design, open-source biology. Tom orignially delivered this workshop at EMF 2024, and helps run Lifefabs Institute from hardware and beyond. Find out more about Tom here: tech.lgbt/@Tomhodson thod.dev Extra Info Accessibility Statement: Lifefabs Institute is committed to ensuring that our events and workshops are as accessible as possible and meet the ever-changing needs of our community. As we navigate the opportunities and challenges of our workshops, we are constantly learning and adjusting our workflows to prioritise accessibility. We’d love to hear any feedback our community might have. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any specific accessibility requirements or questions. Seating: Seating is usually unreserved for our events. If you and your group require seating reservations, please do let us know by emailing us at [email protected] and we'd be more than happy to help. Carers can receive a free ticket to an event by emailing [email protected] Support to Attend Our Events & Workshops Lifefabs Institute may be able to offer financial assistance to enable adults or children to participate in our events and activities if this would otherwise be financially difficult. Please contact our team: [email protected] and we will aim to agree a reduction or bursary or wavier your fee free of charge.