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Hi everyone! Welcome to my LiDAR-based PM2.5 monitoring sensor blog! I will be working to build a sensor that tracks the concentration of PM2.5 in the air and will be documenting my journey through these blog posts!

“What is a LiDAR-based sensor?” you may ask. Well, LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging, and it is most commonly used for spatial mapping and autonomous driving. How LiDAR works is that it emits a laser pulse that bounces off an object and returns to the sensor, allowing it to calculate distances with precision. However, LiDAR has not yet been extensively explored in terms of monitoring air pollutants, so in my senior project, I aim to develop an innovative and adaptable solution that can do just that.

To provide some context for the problem I am trying to solve, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 7 million premature deaths occur globally each year as a result of air pollution. Because of their significantly greater pollution levels, urban places are far more dangerous for their inhabitants. In order to help public officials better manage air quality challenges, my project intends to improve real-time monitoring of air pollution across urban environments by creating a system that utilizes LiDAR to monitor for the concentration of PM2.5 in the air.

Why me?

I’ve always been interested in addressing environmental problems, as I believe the health of humans and the environment are directly linked to each other. After witnessing the tremendous amount of smokers in China and seeing my grandmother’s health deteriorate due to mouth cancer, possibly because of her secondhand exposure to smoke when she was younger, my passion for improving the health of the environment and humans in parallel was ignited even more.

Soon after, I joined Professor Alexander Mamishev’s lab at the University of Washington. My first project entailed engineering a stationary LiDAR sensor for social-distancing from unsafe environments. Though not directly related to helping the environment, this project gave me insight into how sensors could be used to protect human health, which is the core of my project. It also taught me the engineering, physics, and mathematics expertise that I will use during this project.

To build this LiDAR-based PM2.5 monitoring sensor, I’m working with Professor Mamishev, who has decades of expertise in the electrical and computer engineering field, and Madame Laquidara, my French teacher since 9th grade and internal advisor. 

I can’t wait to go on this journey and bring all of you with me! See you at my next blog!