Innovation: Comsats entry wins Imagine Cup award

Students from Sahiwal develop environment pollution detector


Our Correspondent May 14, 2016
Students from Sahiwal develop environment pollution detector. PHOTO: FACEBOOK

MULTAN: An environment pollution detector developed by three students of the Sahiwal Comsats Institute of Information Technology has won an innovation award at the HEC-Microsoft Imagine Cup 2016.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PMDA) on Saturday organised a ceremony to appreciate efforts of the students.

Sohaib Hanif, Umairullah and Nadia Karim spoke about the wearable detector at the ceremony.

The final year BS students said they started working on the project in September 2015.

“The gadget can detect the level of air pollution at any location,” they said.

“The World Health Organisation has declared air pollution one of the world biggest dangers to urban living. Such devices should be available to warn individuals about pollution around them,” said Nida Kareem.

She said the device could check pollution, temperature and moisture in the air. “It can upload the data automatically,” she said.

Hanif said they were improving the device with help from Microsoft professionals.

“The final version will read concentration of various gases, light, heat, motion, moisture, humidity and air pressure,” he said.

“The device can use data from all sensors and display it,” Umairullah said. “The data can also be uploaded to social networks through the Microsoft Azure Cloud App.”

The team said the cost of the device was Rs7,000. “It has potential for global outreach.”

Hanif told The Express Tribune that the team had been invited by Microsoft to participate in another international competition.

“The semi-finals of this competition will be held in July in Washington,” he said.

He said Microsoft professionals had helped them with the design. “They also enabled us to upload data,” he said. Addressing the ceremony, PMDA representative Sarfraz Chahudry said, “This is an amazing invention. I hope they will be able to update it to increase its utility.” He said the government had invested billions of rupees for promotion of technology and research. “These efforts are bearing fruits in the form of such innovative ideas.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2016.

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