APSBusiness Summary

U.S. emissions of air pollutants total approximately 100 million tons per year. (PA). The EPA regulates 187 different air pollutants. Six of these are especially damaging to human and environmental health: volatile or-ganic compounds (VOCs); carbon monoxide (CO); particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10); sulfur oxides (SO2); nitrogen oxides (NO2); and lead (Pb). (EPA, “Air Pollutants”). The EPA calls these six pollutants “criteria pollutants.” (EPA, “Air Pollutants”). Compounds formed from nitrogen oxides, for example, can penetrate lung tissue, leading to emphysema and bronchitis, and worsening existing heart disease. (EPA, “Health”). Exposure to lead can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease in adults. (EPA, “Health”). And in children, lead exposure can result in a re-duction in IQ. (EPA, “Health”).

Although the EPA establishes standards for the permissible emissions of criteria pollutants, agency monitoring revealed industry violations. (EPA, “National Enforcement”). Polluters frequently emit greater amounts of pollutants than they report. (EPA, “National Enforcement”). Violations can result in high costs to emitters. For example, an ethylene and propyl-ene plant owned by Koch Industries, paid $2 million in equipment upgrades, $350,000 in additional mitigation costs, and a $350,000 civil

The Problem

Obtaining accurate air pollution data at the source of emission.

http://www2.epa.gov/enforcementnational-enforcement-initiative-cutting-hazardous-air-pollutants#pane-1

8

Current air quality monitoring solutions are incomplete, costly, or serve a different market.

Air quality monitoring stations: Air quality monitoring stations are costly: Wyoming spent $190,000 in 2011 for a single air quality monitoring sta-tion, with expected maintenance costs of $30,000 annually. (Bleizeffer). An air quality monitoring station cost San Joaquin County, California, $210,000. (Breitler).

In addition to expense, these air quality monitoring stations are immense and immobile. Windborne pollutants disperse rapidly, and are distributed unevenly. Nor are such stations able to track pollutants at their source.

1

Photo by David Monniaux. Creative Commons license. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edinburgh_air_quality_mea-surement_station_dsc06786.jpg

Wearables: Wearables are an interesting product, but target a different market. Wearables target the individual who wishes to know the quality of the air during his daily run. By their nature, wearables have a limited range – they are only able to measure the area immediately surrounding the user. In addition, wearables tend to focus on only a narrow band of compounds – PM2.5 and PM10. (Mytzoa).

2

In addition, for these personal monitors “there are no performance stan-dards or testing centers to validate the accuracy of the devices, and preliminary tests have indicated that many of them are not reliable, per-form poorly in the field and produce measurements that have little or no

34

correlation to scientifically validated air quality data.” (Aqmd).

Portable air monitors: Some existing air monitors can be carried by people and vehicles, however they cannot function well if the desired monitoring zones are beyond human’s reach.

Handheld air monitoring devices: These devices are useful for monitoring air quality over a limited area only, unless deployed in large numbers.

The APS Solution

The APS Solution

APS’s inexpensive drone-and-apps system integrates sensor modules with a drone body to detect all six EPA criteria pollutants cheaply and at their emission source. Further, APS will develop an Android and iOS compatible app that will empower users’ data visualization and analysis for reports, graphs, and charts.

Air Pollutant Solution

Wearable Air Monitoring

Station

Handheld air monitoring

device

Mobility

Greater detection area

Sensitivity

Accuracy

Detection of all 6 EPA pollutants

Data visualization

Data analysis

Low cost

One-time costs Amount($)

Patent application 15,000

Incorporation & other legal 1,500

App & software development 3,000

Miscellaneous 1,000

Total one-time costs 20,500

Annual recurring costs Amount/Unit ($)

Drone pilot/technician 35,200

Drone-and-sensor device 900

Device assemblage & repair 90

Rented server usage 500

Annual SG&A Amount ($)16,500

Total annual recurring costs 53,190

The APS SolutionMarket Opportunity: Now is the right time to start. Awareness of environmental health is high. And the air quality sensing and monitoring market is expected to grow to nearly $3 billion by 2017. (Lindsey). EPA has announced a goal to “target and reduce illegal emissions of toxic air pollutants.” (EPA, “National Enforcement”).

Cost: APS will be able to keep its costs very low. We will be able to develop each drone-and-sensor device for about $900. Our app and software will be developed free of charge. One-time costs will total about $16,500. Recurring annual costs will total about $43,000.

Go-to-Market and Competitive Advantage: Initially, APS will offer its services to businesses and govern-ment agencies. We will sell a premium subscription to businesses for $1,500/year. Our premium subscription will offer industry data and benchmarking. Our yearly subscription charge is comparable to the monthly charge for a firm to rent a monitoring device that detects only one criteria pollutant. (Lindsey). Compared to fixed air stations, our device will offer much greater price value, and will be comparable to handheld devices. To breakeven in Year 1, we would need to sell around 40 premium subscriptions. APS’s subscription based model will lock in competitors. By offering incentives for longer subscrip-tions, we will maintain a stable revenue base over time. After starting in the environmentally conscious Pacific Northwest, we will expand to other parts of the United States. And, with APS’s multinational team composition, two years after our launch in the United States, we will expand to India and China.

IP Strategy: By combining off-the-shelf components in a novel way, our drone-and-sensor device will be patent protec-tion eligible. And our custom software and apps likewise will be eligible for patent protection.

Environmental Benefit: By providing a lower-cost method of detecting air pollution, we will empower enforce-ment agencies and concerned citizens to guard against pollution. Industry will be incentivized to self-monitor. APS will help decrease overall pollution.

15

Hardware and System Description: ImageThe drone serves as a movable multifunctional sensing station, equipped with sensing models, monitoring camera, GPS and radio frequency link. A trained pilot can operate the drone from as far as 800m away on the ground. The total weight of the drone is less than 1.1kg, which gives an extended flight time up to 30 minutes. The replaceable sensor modules give the drone the capability to capture major air pollutants listed by EPA, including Ozone, NO2, SO2, CO, PM2.5 and Lead. The temperature and humidity can be also recorded at same time by the drone. The drone carries digital cameras that re-cord up to 60 minutes video with 1080p resolution. All the data is transmitted through RF to the recording devices such as computers or mobile phones, providing the real time moni-toring data of air pollutants. Below are the high level system designs of the hardware and the whole system.

The APS Solution

Mobile Application and User InterfaceAn application on iOS platform is under development so the data can be distributed easily to users. Below is an example of the lite version, which actively shows the date from the onboard sensors. In the pro version of this application, we provide histori-cal data of each type of pollutants with time, as well as a heat map of the flight path of the drone, as an indication of pollut-ants distribution for more research and commercial purposes. Also, data analysis and algorithm functions will be added to give pro version users a better interpretation of the data.

The APS Solution

Aqmd.gov. “SCAQMD Establishes Nation’s First Test Center for Low-Cost Portable Air Quality Sensors.” 14 July 2014. Web. 02.15.2015. Wyofile.com. Bleizeffer, Dustin. “State adds air quality monitoring station.” 17 May 2011. Valleyair.org. Breitler, Alex. “S.J. adds 4th air monitor station.” Stockton Record. 12 May 2011. Web. 02.15.2015. EPA.gov. “Flint Hills Resources, Port Arthur Clean Air Act Settlement.” Web. 02.15.2015. EPA.gov. “Health.” Web. 02.15.2015. EPA.gov. “National Enforcement Initiative: Cutting Hazardous Air Pollutants.” Web. 02.15.2015. EPA.gov. “What Are the Six Common Air Pollutants?”. Web. 02.15.2015. BCCResearch.com. Lindsey, Keiran. “Air Pollution and the Market for Sensors.” Business Communications Company, Inc. 2003 Feb: xxvii. Web. 02.15.2015. Mytzoa.com. Web. 02.15.2015. PA.gov. Web. 02.15.2015.

Members:Tianchi Liu is a senior student at UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering. He is passionate about software development, data integration and embedded system designs. Snigdha Singh is an MBA student at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. She has a background in the technology industry with experience in cod-ing and project management.Di Sun is a University of Washington PhD student in electrical engineering with a background in analog circuit design and sensor design. Along with the rest of APS’s engineering team, he is responsible for the product research and development. Han Ye is a senior electrical engineering student at the University of Washington , matriculating to Stanford in fall 2015. He specializes in electric sensors, and is pas-sionate about the intersection between hardware and software.Dave Zerby is a member of the Foster MBA Class of 2016. A former attorney, he has a deep interest in social entrepreneurship. Lei Zhang is a first year MBA student at Foster School of Business. An experienced commercial banker, he is passionate for commercializing technology to achieve so-cial benefits. Joshua Zhou is an electrical engineering student at the University of Washington, with a background in sensors, digital IC design, and embedded system. He is pas-sionate about mechatronics design and product management. Yating Zhuang is a undergraduate student at the Universtiy of Washington, majoring in Visual Communication Design, with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She designed APS’s user experience and interface.

Business Plan with in text cites