TITLE: Public Reporting of Air Quality in California
ADVANTECH PRODUCTS: ADAM 5000/TCP, ADAM 5000E-A, ADAM 5017-A2, ADAM 5052-A, ADAM 5068-A,
ADAM 4000
BY: Bill Hayes
Environmental Monitoring Company, Inc.
San Luis Obispo, California
800-597-2037
[email protected]
www.emcslo.com
END USER: Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District (Monterey Bay, CA)
INTEGRATOR: Environmental Monitoring Company, Inc. (San Luis Obispo, CA)
SOFTWARE: Environmental Monitoring Company, Inc. (San Luis Obispo, CA)
HARDWARE: Advantech Corporation, Industrial Automation Group (Cincinnati, OH)
The Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District is charged with the task of monitoring the air quality for the
Monterey Bay, California area. Not only do they have to reliably monitor air quality so Monterey is able to report to
the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but also provide public reporting of their findings. The
Air Pollution District chose Environmental Monitoring Company, Inc (EMC) of San Luis Obispo, California, to
provide the necessary hardware and software to fulfill their needs. EMC chose Advantech Industrial Automation
Group’s line of eAutomation products to monitor and report the necessary data.
Project Background
The Air Pollution District required an ambient air quality and meteorological monitoring data logger to record data
from instruments in remote stations. This agency, like similar agencies throughout the US, monitors ambient air
concentrations of ozone, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, inhalable particulates, and
meteorological measuring instrumentation. The data signals from these analyzers and sensors must be digitized,
averaged, and processed according to rigid EPA guidelines for collecting ambient air quality monitoring data. The
Air Pollution District required a data logging and recording system which was tailored to the EPA data collection
requirements.
They choose the EMC Station Manager data logger to perform this task. The EMC Station Manager data logger is
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an advanced PC-based data logger and data acquisition system.
It incorporates a sophisticated graphical user
interface (GUI) and a powerful data averaging and processing engine that satisfies all of the EPA data collection
and reporting guidelines.
The EMC Station Manager data logger readily interfaces to the Advantech ADAM 5000 series of signal interface
devices.
The extensive plug-in I/O module capability of the ADAM 5000 series products make the combination
of EMC Station Manager data logger software and the ADAM product line a powerfully integrated product.
It
satisfies all of the requirements of the Air Pollution District for data logging, averaging, and data processing and
interfaces thoroughly with all of the air monitoring instrumentation operated by the agency.
Because of the
Station Manager data logger’s unique user interface, it significantly enhances operator usability.
Operator
training is also dramatically reduced and operator efficiency is enhanced because of the large number of features
inherent in the advanced EMC Station Manager ambient air quality data logger and data management system.
The wide range of signal I/O capabilities, which are standard in ADAM 5000 products are a natural fit with the data
collection needs of the Air Pollution District.
Typical air monitoring analyzers and meteorological sensors
manufactures by Thermo Environmental Instruments (TEI), Applied Pollution Instruments (API), and Met-One, Inc
in Air Pollution District monitoring stations output continuous 0-1 VDC or 0-5 VDC data signals that represent
concentration of ambient air pollutants, including ozone, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxides, ambient air
temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. Interfacing the EMC Station Manager data logger and Advantech
ADAM 5000 I/O products to these signals is a standard task and provides stable, noise-free continuous
measurement of these important environmental signals.
Project Implementation
The Air Pollution District benefits from using EMC Station Manager data loggers combined with Advantech ADAM
I/O products because of the standard, off-the-shelf nature of these products.
The agency has standardized their
entire ambient air quality monitoring network for use with Advantech ADAM products and EMC Station Manager
data logger software.
Routine maintenance of the ADAM signal I/O hardware and EMC Station Manager data logger PC platforms is
dramatically reduced and does not consume valuable time and resources of the agency’s limited technical staff.
Because of the modular nature of ADAM products, the agency is able to upgrade hardware whenever new PCs or
other ADAM hardware are needed.
Failure rates of ADAM hardware products are extremely low.
This has led to high data recovery percentages
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mandated by the EPA and assurances that the agency monitoring program is collecting valid air quality data
efficiently and within their cost guidelines. The low failure rates and the low maintenance further enhances the
agency’s ability to operate their mandated ambient air mentoring program within the tight fiscal and budget
restraints a small local agency.
The ambient air quality monitoring program is a service to the communities served by the Air Pollution District.
This program protects public health and provides vital information to the public about current and historical air
quality conditions.
This program does not generate revenues and is dependent upon various sources of funding
that are typically available to public agencies.
Operating a cost efficient data acquisition system that uses EMC
Station Manager data loggers and Advantech ADAM I/O products is one component the agency relies on to meet
their mandated goals.
System Diagram
An ambient air quality monitoring station is usually installed inside of a temperature controlled shelter. These
shelters are normally located in an urban or rural area and are optimized for collection of ambient air quality data
that is representative of the air that the population breathes and is exposed to. Inside of each shelter are
analytical instruments, which measure ambient gaseous concentrations of atmospheric ozone (O3), oxides of
nitrogen (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), inhalable fine particulates (PM2.5), and
meteorological parameters including ambient temperature (T), wind speed (WS), and wind direction (WD).
The pollutant data are EPA designated “criteria” pollutants, which are required to be monitored under the United
States Clean Air Act.
Meteorological data are also collected to support modeling activities and understand the
transport of pollutants from source regions to other receptor areas.
Each ambient air quality monitoring station operated by the Air Pollution District is equipped with an EMC Station
Manager data logger.
The purpose of the EMC Station Manager data logger is to digitize the data and perform
averaging and processing of this data.
After data are stored locally, it is then retrieved from each remote
monitoring station shelter through remote polling using a dial-up modem, radio link, or an Internet connection. The
polled data is stored in a relational database at a central network location.
The central office polling software
system is the EMC System Manager central data management system. It manages and performs polling and
stores the monitored data into a Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle database.
data summaries and reports for public and regulatory agency uses.
It also generates a wide variety of
System Manager also publishes data to the
Internet for public display and notification of adverse air quality conditions.
The EMC System Manager is also
used to transmit data through the Internet to a EPA web site for nationwide views and trends of air pollution data
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throughout the United States and Canada.
An EMC Station Manager data logger in a monitoring station shelter is composed of two basic components. The
first is a Windows based PC which operates the advanced EMC data acquisition and reporting software. The
second component is an Advantech ADAM 5000 series signal I/O system. Together, these two components
form a powerful and versatile stand-alone data acquisition system for collecting ambient air quality monitoring
data. The EMC software and the Advantech hardware are off-the-shelf components. This system fully satisfies all
of the Air Pollution District and EPA requirements for data collection and reporting of ambient air quality data.
The Air Pollution District operates a network of nine remote air monitoring stations throughout a tri-country region
of central California that include Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, and San Benito County. While each
location can vary in construction, the same basic task is performed at each station. This task is the collection
and reporting of ambient air quality and meteorological monitoring data.
The EMC Station Manager data logger
combined with Advantech ADAM I/O hardware form an important component of the important monitoring
program.
“The coolest part of this whole project was being able to report all the data to a website, in a graphical format,”
says Bill Hayes of EMC. “Anybody can log onto the Air District’s website and see what the air quality is in their
neighborhood. It’s automatically updated with Advantech’s products and our software through a JAVA interface.”
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EMC designed a system which automatically allowed for public reporting at www.mbuapcd.org. Variables such as
current ozone levels, eight-hour ozone level averages, and historical ozone averages are updated automatically
and presented in a graphical format. A map is displayed once a variable in chosen with the data requested for each
point where measurements are taken. The new system provides high data capture rates for the critical data the Air
Pollution District collects, manages, and reports to the EPA and the public.
“The new setup is light-years ahead of where they were before,” said Bill at EMC. “It makes reporting easier and
they fulfill the need to report findings in a way anybody can easily use.”
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EMC Company Profile: Environmental Monitoring Company, Inc. has been providing environmental consulting
services to private industry and government agencies for over twenty-five years. As a leading producer of data
acquisition systems for ambient air quality, meteorological, and continuous emissions monitoring systems in the
environmental industry, EMC operates and manages Prevention of Significant Deterioration and State of Local Air
Monitoring programs in California.
EMC has developed a new generation of data acquisition software products using Advantech Corporation,
Industrial Automation Group’s data acquisition products. Guided by years of experience in operating and
maintaining air monitoring programs, EMC has developed the EMC Station Manager® data logger for ambient air
quality and meteorological monitoring, the EMC Station Manager® CEMS DAS for continuous emission
monitoring systems (CEMS), and the EMC System Manager® central data management system for air monitoring
networks. EMC has installed over one-thousand systems in government agencies and industrial facilities around
the world.
Advantech Corporation, Industrial Automation Group - Founded in 1983, the Industrial Automation Group of
Advantech Corporation is the only complete PC-based Industrial Automation Solution Manufacturer offering
products such as Industrial PCs, Workstations, Panel PCs, Flat Panel Monitors, Heavy Environmental PCs,
Customized PCs, Single Board Computers, Data Acquisition & Control Devices and Web-enabled products for a
wide array of industries. Drawing on the talents of more than 1,800 people, Advantech operates an extensive
sales and marketing network in 16 countries and 35 major cities to deliver fast time-to-market services to our
worldwide customers. Today Advantech offers over 700 products and solutions, adding 30 new products each
year.
US operations for the Industrial Automation Group are based in Cincinnati, OH (877-294-8989).
Advantech Corporation, Industrial Automation Group, 1320 Kemper Meadow Drive, Suite 500, Cincinnati, OH
45240. Web:
www.advantech.com/eAutomation.
Email: [email protected]
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