Improving indoor air quality has become an urgent need to create a healthy environment, whether in residential, office, or school settings. According to the latest report from the US Environmental Protection Agency, we spend 90% of our time indoors every day, and the concentration of pollutants in indoor air may be up to five times higher than in outdoor environments.
To promote the further development of air quality detection technology, Renesas Electronics has expanded its sensing product portfolio and launched integrated modules. This module combines calibrated environmental sensors with Renesas' microcontroller (MCU), chip level packaging technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.
Stefan Schreiber, an application engineer at Renesas, recently published a blog post that provides exciting insights into the rapidly changing air quality sensor market and how Renesas RRH62000 modules can help alleviate air quality issues.
RRH62000
Here, I would like to further expand on this topic and introduce the highly collaborative advantages brought about by this latest breakthrough - it combines industry-leading sensor, MCU, and AI product lines, which can promote the widespread deployment of environmental sensors in various devices such as smart air purifiers, smoke detectors, and remote weather stations.
From the customer's perspective, we focus on three major areas to significantly improve the detection, interpretation, and sharing process of real-time air quality data.
Comprehensive sensor fusion
The development trajectory of Renesas' environmental sensor product portfolio witnesses our evolution from discrete sensors to highly integrated sensor modules. These modules incorporate AI enhanced intelligent compensation engines and algorithms obtained through the acquisition of Reality AI company. Nowadays, any AI based sensor fusion platform from Renesas can help customers reduce costs by over 30%, reduce board space by over 50%, and shorten time to market by half, making their lives easier.
In the latest case, the RRH62000 module, with its powerful functionality, has led customers to achieve a leap from single event detection to comprehensive environmental monitoring. This module can simultaneously measure temperature, humidity, particulate matter, and the presence of volatile organic compounds. This technology, which combines multiple sensor parameters together, is called sensor fusion, which endows customers with the ability to handle numerous unique applications, especially ideal for complex scenarios that require monitoring multiple gases and suspended particulate matter. For example, in applications such as mold detection or kitchen exhaust fan monitoring, the RRH62000 module has demonstrated unparalleled advantages. In a more relaxed concept validation case, our designer helped a potential customer integrate a sensor control center into a commercial oven, utilizing multiple sensor modes to determine optimal application conditions, creating a process similar to automated cooking, allowing the end user to cook just the right amount of food in their own kitchen.
Utilizing AI models to achieve continuous performance improvement
Based on the specific testing requirements of the customer, we can assist them in collecting data and using this data to train the compensation engine of the sensor module.
In the future, this advanced data training will continue to evolve through the use of AI event classification algorithms in terminals. For example, learn to distinguish whether the source of smoke is cigarettes or electronic cigarettes. By building these datasets, designers have the ability to identify a wider range of features or patterns, not only detecting cigarette smoke but also distinguishing which brand of tobacco it is.
Compliance with air quality standards
The air quality standards are extremely complex as they often change and vary greatly depending on the region, making it almost impossible for ordinary customers to conduct the necessary due diligence to comply with every standard in all global markets.
Renesas has a deep understanding of these standard organizations and incorporates it into its solutions. We use specific sensor firmware to implement these building standards, providing support for our customers' end devices.
With continuous firmware updates and the release of more operating modes, Renesas can meet customers' different needs for regional building standards without having to deal with tedious paperwork.
Ultimately, the combination of hardware, software, firmware, and AI algorithms together creates a flexible, scalable, and customer-centric solution. These solutions integrate Renesas' latest MCU nodes, embedded environmental sensors, and machine learning models with data analysis capabilities, helping to create livable living environments. Given that ventilation is often restricted in current energy-efficient building designs due to optimizing energy efficiency, which may increase the risk of fatal breathing for the elderly population, Renesas' solution can further ensure air quality and ensure that every breath is pure and healthy!
