Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab

The DustDuino is a small, WiFi-connected device that measures particulate matter (PM), a major component of air pollution. Every 30 seconds, the device uses an infrared dust sensor to measure the amount of particulates in the air, and sends the data to Xively.com, which stores and graphs the data for anyone to see. It's based on the Arduino prototyping platform, which is a very versatile microcontroller that is easy to program.

Matt Schroyer, the creator, is intending to release the plans and custom printed circuit boards this summer, not only to help people in the community learn about the quality of their air, but also to teach the basics of electronics and computer programming. Little experience with computer programming or electronics should be required to make one.

Find out more on his website: http://www.mentalmunition.com/2013/05/dustduino-plan-to-crowdsource.html

The first DustDuino is currently sitting outside and transmitting data to Xively here, though it may go down temporarily for upgrades and maintenance: https://xively.com/feeds/499600824