Project Description

WEBAIR is a direct continuation and extension of E!1388 AIDAIR and several EU sponsored RTD projects under Framework 4 and 5, and aims at developing and integrating the proof-of-concept prototypes developed there into commercially viable products and services through a series of pilot applications. The basic idea is to offer an integrated set of Internet based services to support regulatory compliance and reporting requirements for and on behalf of cities and industries subject to EU or similar national environmental regulations, as well as cost efficient strategies for emission control.

The basic business concept is complete or partial outsourcing of a range of web-accessible application services for distributed and mobile clients. Regulatory reporting as well as public information is the information product derived as an added value service from basic meteorological and environmental data. Key concepts are value added in public-private partnership, and open access to environmental information packaged as attractive, informative, and educational multi-media content for a range of user communities. The product will offer interface for technological risk analysis as well process control and optimisation. Technically, the emphasis is on real-time analysis, combining on-line monitoring and model-based assessment into multi-media information and reporting for a broad range of consumers, including the general public interested in environmental quality.

The support of distributed and mobile clients through the Internet adds an additional business perspective for network and mobile phone operators. The approach integrates a range of real-time and on-line data sources and tools into a unified but modular client/server architecture implemented as a range of web accessible application services. In addition to real-time monitoring and assessment with on-line publication of the information in real time as well as forecasts, and regular compliance reporting to meet regulatory requirements, the tools will also support strategic analysis of emission control strategies using complex optimisation technologies for non-differentiable systems, policy support for the Kyoto protocol, and provide interfaces for technological risk assessment and process control.

WEBAIR builds on E!1388 AIDAIR and several EU sponsored RTD projects under Framework 4 and 5, including SUTRA (Sustainable Urban Transportation under the City of Tomorrow Key Action, and ENV-e-CITY, the Environmentally viable electronic City project under the IST eContent programme). The project aims at developing and integrating the proof-of-concept prototypes developed in these RTD projects into commercially viable products through a series of pilot applications within the framework of a business plan and exploitation and marketing strategy that is one of the auxiliary components of the project.

Technological Development Envisaged

• Acquisition and real-time processing of monitoring and observation data; the emphasis is on capture of potentially large volumes of diverse data, efficient storage, quality assurance (plausibility, completeness, consistency) and retrieval in support of real-time processing, integration of diverse data sources including meteorological data and forecasts, air quality monitoring, satellite imagery, emission monitoring, and traffic observations, including real-time video and digital photography.
• Integration of real-time modelling tools to augment the monitoring data from a few locations into a complete yet detailed spatial coverage of air quality information; in addition to the real-time now-casting and data assimilation, short and medium term forecasts based on meteorological forecasts and dynamic emission models will be run on a regular basis, synchronised with the observation frequencies. Fuzzy scenarios will be used where appropriate.
• Specific research topics will include meteorological forecasts at a local scale, complex terrain, coastal locations and sea breeze, urban heat islands, behaviour of fine particles (PM2.5) and the explicit treatment of urban structures in dynamic 3D models as well as the possibilities for multi-criteria source control optimization (with environmental, regulatory, and economic objectives) in near real-time.
• Specific modelling components will include an emission model for traffic linked to real-time traffic observations and meteorological conditions, as well as an optimisation model for more strategic emission control issues. Impact assessment tools derive public and environmental health information.
• Translation of this information into a range of attractive multi-media formats for web access including low-resolution mobile clients with a range of protocols as well as the automatic generation of summary reports over various periods according to the regulatory requirements.
• Testing these components by several teams in the consortium in several pilot installations under real operational conditions in a number of locations and developing the necessary exception handling and error correcting methods for an automatic but highly reliable assessment and high availability mission critical performance.
• Important development goals for the integrated system include issues of quality assurance, reliability, scalability and response speed, bandwidth requirements and constraints, error and exception handling, ease of use and understanding, and the integration in the institutional structures and processes of client organisations. These Usability issues, closely related to economic feasibility of the proposed set of tools and services, will be the focus of the test case evaluation.
• Emission control optimization: on the basis of the simulation models, a two-phase multi-criteria optimization strategy combining satisficing (using genetic algorithms and domain specific heuristics) and discrete multi-criteria (reference point) methodology can find effective and cost efficient strategies (combinations of technological and regulatory instruments) to meet air quality standards, but also related emission targets for CO2 and GHG as covered by the Kyoto protocol.

Market Application and Exploitation

The market for this kind of outsourcing of tools required for regulatory compliance comprises about 1,000 cities in the extended European Union and geographical Europe subject to the Air Quality Framework Directive (96/62/EEC and daughter Directives), and several thousand industrial plants including thermal power plants and incinerators.

Initial costs benefit analysis shows that the system, offered as a commercial product can reach profitable operation and break even after the completion of the WEBAIR project within 5 to 7 years, depending on the assumptions on market penetration, provided that the necessary capital for marketing and the initial operational phase can be raised.

Partner sought:

The project invites major emitters such as industries subject to EU Directives including 88/609/EEC, 609/429/EEC, 94/67/EEC, IPPC (96/61/EEC) or cities subject to the Air Quality Framework Directive (96/62/EC) as pilot users of the system.

Technology partners sought include manufacturers, integrators and distributors of monitoring equipment for stack and vehicle emissions including web cameras for optical and IR imagery, and real-time traffic monitoring data, and traffic systems analysis and modelling (preferably in real-time), as well as contributions in the area of public health impacts, energy systems and techno-economic analysis, urban and regional planners.