COCAL: Sensors on buses to measure air pollution in the city

Volunteers offering their help to collect and share scientific measurements. It is called 'Crowdsensing" and is the centrepiece of the COCAL project developed by the OGS, which has developed and installed devices to measure air quality on private cars and public transport buses. In particular, a network of mobile sensors has been developed to monitor air quality (particulate matter) in urban areas in real time.

The approach is based on the use of several vehicles in which sensors, detection and transmission devices are installed thanks to the collaboration with the local transport company (TPL FVG). The particulate matter values are measured and transmitted via standard mobile phone networks and then collated on the OGS servers.

In its trial phase, COCAL was put into operation in 2021 and has collected more than 100 million readings to date, which show various hotspots and trends in air pollution in the city of Trieste and are the subject of various scientific publications in international journals.