ASUKA Autotronics & Smart Sensing Inc, a prominent manufacturer of IoT (Internet of Things) edge device, announced last month (December, 2022) that it has cooperated with Infineon and Exosite to launch an "Indoor CO2 Monitoring Cloud System", which will be applicable to smart buildings, industrial workplace monitoring, smart agriculture, and other related use cases. It helps enterprises to swiftly establish an indoor air quality monitoring system that meets the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) regulations, and add value to the system integrators’ IoT service.
High Indoor Carbon Dioxide Level Health Hazard
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a colorless and odorless gas emitted by human activities. It is the most critical indicator of indoor air quality. The CO2 level of outdoor fresh air is around 400 ppm, while the CO2 level of a well-ventilated office is about 600-800 ppm. If people are exposed to high CO2 levels (more than 1000 ppm) for a period of time, the CO2 itself can cause headache, dizziness, nausea and other symptoms.
Governments around the world are developing ventilation guidelines and regulations that should maintain a comfortable environment (such as schools, hospitals, shopping malls, working facilities, etc.) for most occupants. Taiwan EPA framed the "Indoor Air Quality Management Act '' that regulates certain premises owners to measure, announce, and keep records of CO2 concentration for inspection every two years.
ASUKA leverages Infineon and Exosite
ASUKA KP-200W is a high-sensitive, system-level CO2 sensing module by utilizing Infineon’s PAS technology CO2 sensing IC, microcontrollers, and WiFi. It is capable of measuring the indoor air quality every minute and uploading the sensor data via WiFi to Exosite’s ExoSense®, a condition monitoring cloud application that provides visualizations and operational insights. The IoT data is securely stored in Exosite’s IoT software platform and can also be accessed by ASUKA's mobile APP.
"We have made the two important things, CO2 sensing and cloud data processing, easier," said Dr. Ron Hu, President of ASUKA Autotronics. "Because ASUKA’s system-level CO2 sensing module KP-201W has been successfully integrated with Exosite ExoSense® and other well-known public cloud platforms, its sensing data can be easily and quickly sent to the cloud without editing any code, achieving a painless plug-n-play IoT system.” Dr. Hu added.
The Next Step
President Ron Hu also revealed that the next product will be a system-level module based on Infineon's CO2 sensing IC and 60GHz mmWave radar sensor. The mmWave radar can capture subtle movement of people and vehicles. It can be used in smart homes, smart buildings, security monitoring etc. Thanks to its low power consumption, mmWave radar can be used to control electronic appliances to achieve the goal of energy saving and environmental sustainability. The new product will be also compatible with Exosite ExoSense® condition monitoring cloud application.