Source: Institute of Advanced Technology
Written by: Institute of Advanced Technology
Translated by: Dr. Xu Weijia

A real-time air quality reporting system developed by the Institute of Advanced Technology and the School of Engineering at Sun Yat-sen University has been in operation on the China National Environmental Monitoring Center (CNEMC) website since January 1st, 2013. According to the requirements of Ambient Air Quality Standard (GB3095-2012), the platform displays the real-time data of 6 basic indices including sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particles with diameter less than 10 microns (PM10), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (NO) and fine particles with diameter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), as well as AQI index in 74 Cities and 496 monitoring sites.
The platform is part of the project of “Data Transmission and Quality Control Platform of National Air Monitoring Network”, which is undertaken by the research and development team led by Dr. Xu Weijia from the Institute of Advanced Technology and Professor Yu Zhi from the School of Engineering. Supported by the project, the network management platform and automatic data acquisition system for the air quality in the above-mentioned 74 cities and 496 monitoring sites are put into operation simultaneously. According to the three-step implementation plan of the new air quality standard (GB3095-2012) by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the system will cover 113 key environmental protection cities by 2013, and all cities at prefecture level or above in China by 2015.

The technological preparation for the project can be traced back to 2003 when the School of Engineering organized a team to conduct research in the field of vehicle emissions and air pollution. In 2005, more than ￥3000,000 was invested into the fixed and mobile air quality monitoring systems which could measure the parameters of SO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5, PM1, visibility, degree of solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, etc. Then, further works have been done with the automatic monitoring technology and urban air pollution modeling for the complex air pollution. Based on the fundamental research by the Institute of Advanced Technology, the application of key technologies was carried out in cooperation with Guangdong Environmental Monitoring Center (GEMC), School of Engineering, and Guangzhou Fundway Traffic Technology Co., Ltd. In 2010, an urban air quality network platform was successfully developed for monitoring the real-time air quality and keeping the effectiveness of air quality assurance during the Guangzhou Asian Games. In 2011, a three-dimensional environmental monitoring network platform for complex air pollution was further developed by integrating more than 60 sites in the Pearl River Delta region. Together with the enterprises, the application of this platform was significantly promoted in the local environmental monitoring departments. In 2012, a real-time reporting system for the Pearl River Delta air quality was officially launched, supporting Guangdong Province to be the first to release information of PM2.5 and O3 in city clusters according to the new air quality standard. Meanwhile, the project of “Data Transmission and Quality Control Platform of National Air Monitoring Network” was started in September 2012 for developing the nationwide real-time air quality reporting system.

Through ten years of exploration, in the process from technology accumulation, key technology breakthroughs, application demonstration to comprehensive implementation and industrialization, the government-industry-university-research cooperation is improved. The platform is a useful attempt of Sun Yat-sen University to promote technological research and development, expand technological application and serve the society.

More information on the national real-time air quality reporting system is available at http://113.108.142.147:20035/emcpublish/.