Development of a Mobile Edge Device and an Information System to Analyze Particulate Matter Distribution as a mHealth Service

Particulate matter is an air pollutant consistent of very small particles that are suspended in the air. Short term exposure may result in respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, throat and nose irritation, chest tightness, coughing, in addition to eye irritation. The research aims at creating a prototype of a mobile sensor system that can be used to analyze the particulate matter pollution on a location and on a time scale to measure the degree of pollution in the city. The engineering required to construct the edge device includes a temperature (humidity) sensor, particulate matter sensor, GPS module, and an LCD for displaying the current sensor values. The health data of the mobile edge device can be analyzed through a developed analytics system, which allows the user to identify and avoid pollution sources. For the implementation of the web service the framework ReactJS, NodeJS with Express.js, and the database MongoDB are being used. The mHelath service is evaluated through field trials: New Year’s Eve, various source identifications, and a demonstration through a journey from the subway station to the university. The paper outlines a mHealth service, which can collect data records of the surroundings and analyze the particulate matter in an information system to visualize the risk locations of a user.