Measuring air pollution on a bicycle

27. A small group of EPFL students captured second place at the international competition iCan with their bike light with an air pollution gauge. Four EPFL microengineering students invented a bicycle-borne system to measure CO and NO2 levels in the air thanks to a sensor in the casing of the bike light. Dubbed BeMap (Bicycle Environmental Mapping), this little system gauges air pollution levels throughout the bike ride and then transmits the data to a computer. The idea has merit, as the students captured second place at the international microengineering competition iCan held this past summer in Anchorage (Alaska). BeMap's main use is to help cyclists choose the route with the lowest level of vehicle exhaust. But the idea is also to put the air-pollution readings submitted by all users into an open-source database on the internet and use the data for purposes of environmental mapping.