Hugo Geiger Prize 2012

In October 2008, environmental zones were introduced in many of Germany‘s cities. Vehicles with red discs have since been banned from city centers. Still, emission loads in cities and major population centers continue to be too high. The reason for this is the fact that pollutants don‘t just come from traffic, but also from heating systems, power stations, industrial plants and from the natural environment. To monitor compliance with the legal regulations, the authorities need solid measurement data - recorded precisely and flexibly. So far, this data has generally come from stationary measuring locations. But because they are not extensively distributed, the values do not fully reflect the actual air composition. Sven Rademacher developed the mobile, infrared optical filter photometer as part of this Master‘s thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measuring Technology IPM in Freiburg. Unlike commercially available systems, it detects several gases at the same time. What‘s more, the device‘s position can be fixed using GALILEO, the European satellite navigation system, which allows for the measurement data to be precisely localized. This in turn permits conclusions to be drawn on the sources of the pollution and specific countermeasures to be initiated, imposing local traffic restrictions for example. An online air pollutant chart is to make the measurements transparent for everyone.