Introducing PlanetWatch – The world’s first immutable air quality ledger
PlanetWatch is an environmental monitoring service that is building the world’s first immutable air quality ledger utilizing the Algorand blockchain and IoT technologies. They aim to capture crowd-sourced data to fight air pollution and store them on Algorand’s immutable ledger. Contributors to the ecosystem will be rewarded with native PLANET tokens.
Claudio Parrinello, CEO of PlanetWatch, said:
“The missing link in air quality monitoring is a high-density, low-cost sensor network, delivering real-time data. Historically, air pollution is monitored through large, expensive scientific instruments installed in a small number of locations, with data not being published in real-time. Through Algorand’s highly secure, fast, and energy-efficient protocol, data is recorded onto the blockchain for anyone to access. This data has vast commercial and scientific value as air quality pollution will become more prevalent in the coming decades.”
Along with Algorand’s ledger, PlanetWatch also uses an advanced data acquisition software developed at CERN and air quality sensors developed by a major research institute.
How PlanetWatch Works
Air pollution has been cited as the fourth-largest health risk in the world. As of now, responsible air quality monitoring is a global challenge for governments, regulators, and citizens. The lack of real-time reporting makes the current monitoring methods extremely inadequate and sluggish. PlanetWatch has a global network of environmentally conscious people, which will make this process extremely efficient. Not only will these people install air quality sensors outside their homes, but they will carry sensors while commuting and traveling as well. This network of users will then validate, filter, and display data in real-time through a mobile app. Once the data has been verified, it will be stored on the Algorand blockchain.
If properly deployed, PlanetWatch will help in:
Dense, low-cost air quality monitoring networks.
Deliver real-time data on air pollution.
Build a decentralized, transparent, and immutable ledger for logging air quality data.
Economically incentivize the network to participate in the activity via a rewarding mechanism (PLANET tokens).
To help widen their network, PlanetWatch will allow its users to do the following:
Buy a sensor from PlanetWatch and earn/mine PLANET tokens.
Sponsor a sensor already installed by PlanetWatch and mine PLANETs without actually managing that sensor. In essence, they are delegating their responsibility to someone else.
Why Algorand?
Algorand will be the underlying ledger in this entire process. The brainchild of legendary cryptographer Silvio Micali, Algorand is the world’s first open-source, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol, built for the next generation of financial products.
Algorand COO W.Seann Ford revealed why the partnership between Algorand and PlanetWatch makes sense:
“Algorand’s protocol was built by the team to be energy conscious with minimal processing power needed to achieve consensus in its innovative pure proof-of-stake approach. The eco-friendliness of the Algorand network makes for a natural partnership with PlanetWatch to help global populations access transparent, reliable information about air quality in their locations. Blockchain, in general, receives criticism for high-energy outputs, but with Algorand’s energy efficient network participation, we are working to be a part of environmental solutions from air quality and beyond, and are thrilled to partner with one of the environment’s biggest advocates, PlanetWatch.”
The CERN connection
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research. They are well-known for housing the Large Hadron Collider. PlanetWatch has the distinction to be the first blockchain company to join the spin-off partnership program by CERN.
Giovanni Anelli, Head of Knowledge Transfer at CERN, said this about PlanetWatch:
“We are very happy to support Planetwatch as a CERN Spin-off. Their commitment to improve air quality monitoring worldwide is important for society. PlanetWatch will use the C2MON data acquisition framework developed at CERN, and will soon join the French business incubation center of CERN technologies Innogex in France.”
Conclusion
PlanetWatch’s ingenious mechanism will decentralize, incentivize, and gamify air quality monitoring. By delivering real-time data and building the first global immutable air quality ledger, PlanetWatch will help revolutionize this space. By using Algorand as its underlying blockchain, they will be able to effectively scale up their operations, without compromising on overall performance.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://cryptohype.tech/real-world-blockchain-environmental-use-case-in-2020-algorand-partners-with-planetwatch-for-global-air-quality-monitoring/