SCH in pact to pilot air monitoring system

The Qatar Mobility Innovation Centre (QMIC) and the Supreme Council of Health yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on piloting QMIC’s innovative air quality monitoring system - Hawa’ak . In the food safety and environmental health sector in Qatar, the Hawa’ak system and applications represent a key element of the ‘smart living services initiative’ that QMIC launched last year and the company will use Hawa’ak to create an integrated and rich air quality monitoring system suitable for deployment in Qatar and the region. SCH Public Health department director Dr Mohamed al-Thani and QMIC executive director Dr Adnan Abu-Dayya signed the agreement at a ceremony held yesterday at the Qatar Science and Technology Park. Hawa’ak is a rich and flexible platform fully and locally developed by QMIC that utilises a new generation of mobile air quality monitoring stations at lower cost and provides ubiquitous coverage to support real-time and historic monitoring  of air quality and other environmental conditions. The data collected by Hawa’ak monitoring stations is transmitted wirelessly via GPRS and processed by QMIC’s intelligent sensing and M2M services platform (Labeeb). Labeeb transforms the raw air quality data to useful air quality information in realtime and stores the data for further analysis and research. Hawa’ak then delivers the personalised and relevant air quality information to users through innovative applications via multiple delivery channels including mobile applications, web portals, SMS and voice interaction.The air quality control system has already been piloted within the Qatar Foundation since April. Under the latest collaboration, the second generation of the multiple innovative air quality monitoring stations capable of detecting various pollutants such as CO, SO2, NO, NO2, H2S and dust particles will be deployed to the SCH. Speaking at the event, Dr Mohamed al-Thani said the initiative to use Hawa’ak in the food safety and environmental health sector came within the framework of a comprehensive programme to monitor air quality, which will begin in the Environmental Health Department and will later include monitoring and evaluating air in residential areas and places outside Doha city, in addition to a special unit to measure air pollutants in areas such as Dafna towers with extremely high traffic density.   “We are very happy to collaborate with QMIC on trying out the Hawa’ak intelligent air quality monitoring system that will allow us to monitor air quality around the country. SCH is very keen on monitoring air quality in real time and to create a rich bank of air quality information,” he said. Dr Mohamed al-Thani explained that the information bank will allow the council to assess the impact of air quality on human health and will help to prevent diseases from happening. “SCH wishes to encourage local talent and building of local technical capacity in this important area. We are eager to work with QMIC and use a locally-built solution, customised for Qatar, to proactively monitor air quality to allow us take preventive actions as needed,” he added. Also speaking about the innovation, Abu-Dayya said: “We are excited to work with a key national entity like SCH to deploy our leading Hawa’ak solution and applications and demonstrate the value of localised and realtime air quality monitoring.” He explained that the partnership will help QMIC increase awareness on the importance of air quality monitoring saying: “We look forward to working together with SCH and other national entities to promote a healthier quality air for the residents of Qatar.”