VL53L8 dToF sensor·Qualcomm Snapdragon 8·Mobile Physics SW combination
Envirometer app acts as a personal portable environmental monitor and smoke detector

STMicroelectronics (ST) and Mobile Physics, an environmental physics software development startup, are jointly developing an air quality monitoring solution to help reduce the impact of air pollution, which causes 6.7 million deaths each year.

STMicroelectronics and Mobile Physics announced today that they have jointly developed a solution that can measure home and ambient air quality using ToF optical sensors embedded in smartphones and other devices.

The solution has been developed specifically for ST’s multi-zone ranging sensors, which are widely used in functions such as camera autofocus and user presence detection, and measure particulate matter in the ambient air.

Equipped with accuracy comparable to dedicated air quality monitoring devices, Mobile Physics’ new EnviroMeter app acts as a personal portable environmental monitor and smoke detector to protect your health and enhance fire safety.

The product was developed using ST's low-power technology to enable continuous operation and continuous peripheral awareness while minimizing the impact on battery life.

The number of premature deaths caused by the combined effects of ambient air pollution and domestic air pollution is estimated to reach 6.7 million each year, making air quality monitoring inevitable.It has emerged as a public health issue.

The two companies are combining Mobile Physics software with ST’s VL53L8 dToF sensor on Qualcomm’s third-generation smartphone platform, Snapdragon 8, to accelerate integration, building on ST’s market presence.

As showcased at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit 2023, the project has created the world’s first smartphone capable of constantly detecting air quality and smoke.

“Smartphone-based personal environmental monitoring can now put everyone in control of their health and safety,” said Erez Weinroth, CEO of Mobile Physics. “ST’s dToF sensors allowed us to deliver a solution that provides accuracy comparable to high-end, dedicated environmental monitoring devices, but in a lower cost and smaller package.”

“The Mobile Physics team has ingeniously used data from our dToF sensors to create a groundbreaking, yet cost-effective, and capable environmental monitor,” said Alex Balmefrezol, Vice President, ST’s Imaging Subgroup. “We are pleased to now deliver increased value to our customers with new wellness features that complement existing ToF use cases.”

This air quality sensing solution, co-developed with ST, is included in Mobile Physics’ Envirometer software development kit (SDK) and also provides monitoring data on temperature, wind, precipitation, humidity, light intensity, UV and noise levels.

It protects the user's health by detecting particles smaller than 2.5 microns with its sensing function.

The solution consists only of a standard dToF sensor and software from Mobile Physics, and does not require any additionalNo equipment is required.

More information about this solution can be found at the air quality monitoring demo scheduled to be held at the ST booth during Mobile World Congress 2024.