Business Summary

APS

The Problem
Obtaining accurate air pollution data at the source of emission.
U.S. emissions of air pollutants total approximately 100 million tons per
year. (PA). The EPA regulates 187 different air pollutants. Six of these are
especially damaging to human and environmental health: volatile organic compounds (VOCs); carbon monoxide (CO); particulate matter
(PM2.5 and PM10); sulfur oxides (SO2); nitrogen oxides (NO2); and lead
(Pb). (EPA, Air Pollutants). The EPA calls these six pollutants criteria
pollutants. (EPA, Air Pollutants). Compounds formed from nitrogen
oxides, for example, can penetrate lung tissue, leading to emphysema
and bronchitis, and worsening existing heart disease. (EPA, Health).
Exposure to lead can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease in
adults. (EPA, Health). And in children, lead exposure can result in a reduction in IQ. (EPA, Health).
Although the EPA establishes standards for the permissible emissions of
criteria pollutants, agency monitoring revealed industry violations. (EPA,
National Enforcement). Polluters frequently emit greater amounts of
pollutants than they report. (EPA, National Enforcement). Violations
can result in high costs to emitters. For example, an ethylene and propylene plant owned by8 Koch Industries, paid $2 million in equipment
upgrades, $350,000 in additional mitigation costs, and a $350,000 civil

http://www2.epa.gov/enforcementnational-enforcement-initiative-cutting-hazardous-air-pollutants#pane-1

The APS Solution

Current air quality monitoring solutions are incomplete,
costly, or serve a different market.

Air quality monitoring stations: Air quality monitoring stations are costly:
Wyoming spent $190,000 in 2011 for a single air quality monitoring station, with expected maintenance costs of $30,000 annually. (Bleizeffer).
An air quality monitoring station cost San Joaquin County, California,
$210,000. (Breitler).
In addition to expense, these air quality monitoring stations are immense
and immobile. Windborne pollutants disperse rapidly, and are distributed
unevenly. Nor are such stations able to track pollutants at their source.

Photo by David Monniaux.

Creative Commons license. http://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Edinburgh_air_quality_measurement_station_dsc06786.jpg

Wearables: Wearables are an interesting product, but target a different

market. Wearables target the individual who wishes to know the quality
of the air during his daily run. By their nature, wearables have a limited
range they are only able to measure the area immediately surrounding
the user. In addition, wearables tend to focus on only a narrow band of
compounds PM2.5 and PM10. (Mytzoa).
In addition, for these personal monitors there are no performance standards or testing centers to validate the accuracy of the devices, and
preliminary tests have indicated that many of them are not reliable, perform poorly in the field and produce measurements that have little or no
correlation to scientifically validated air quality data. (Aqmd).

3
4

Portable air monitors: Some existing air monitors can be carried by people
and vehicles, however they cannot function well if the desired monitoring
zones are beyond humans reach.
Handheld air monitoring devices: These devices are useful for monitoring
air quality over a limited area only, unless deployed in large numbers.

The APS Solution

APSs inexpensive drone-and-apps system
integrates sensor modules with a drone body
to detect all six EPA criteria pollutants cheaply
and at their emission source. Further, APS will
develop an Android and iOS compatible app
that will empower users data visualization
and analysis for reports, graphs, and charts.

Air Pollutant Wearable

Solution
Mobility
Greater detection
area
Sensitivity
Accuracy
Detection of all
6 EPA pollutants
Data visualization
Data analysis
Low cost

Air
Monitoring
Station

Handheld air
monitoring
device

The APS Solution

Market Opportunity: Now is the right time to start.
Awareness of environmental health is high. And the air quality
sensing and monitoring market is expected to grow to nearly
$3 billion by 2017. (Lindsey). EPA has announced a goal to
target and reduce illegal emissions of toxic air pollutants.
(EPA, National Enforcement).
Cost: APS will be able to keep its costs very low. We will be

able to develop each drone-and-sensor device for about $900.

Our app and software will be developed free of charge. Onetime costs will total about $16,500. Recurring annual costs will
total about $43,000.

Go-to-Market and Competitive Advantage:

Initially, APS will offer its services to 15

businesses and government agencies. We will sell a premium subscription to
businesses for $1,500/year. Our premium subscription will offer
industry data and benchmarking. Our yearly subscription
charge is comparable to the monthly charge for a firm to rent a
monitoring device that detects only one criteria pollutant.
(Lindsey). Compared to fixed air stations, our device will offer
much greater price value, and will be comparable to handheld
devices. To breakeven in Year 1, we would need to sell around
40 premium subscriptions. APSs subscription based model will
lock in competitors. By offering incentives for longer subscriptions, we will maintain a stable revenue base over time. After
starting in the environmentally conscious Pacific Northwest, we
will expand to other parts of the United States. And, with APSs
multinational team composition, two years after our launch in
the United States, we will expand to India and China.

IP Strategy: By combining off-the-shelf components in a

novel way, our drone-and-sensor device will be patent protection eligible. And our custom software and apps likewise will
be eligible for patent protection.
Environmental Benefit:

By providing a lower-cost
method of detecting air pollution, we will empower enforcement agencies and concerned citizens to guard against
pollution. Industry will be incentivized to self-monitor. APS will
help decrease overall pollution.

One-time costs

Amount($)

Patent application

15,000

Incorporation & other legal

1,500

App & software development

3,000

Miscellaneous

1,000
20,500

Total one-time costs

Annual recurring costs

Amount/Unit ($)

Drone pilot/technician

35,200

Drone-and-sensor device

900

Device assemblage & repair

90

Rented server usage

Annual SG&A

500

Amount ($)
16,500

Total annual recurring costs

53,190

The APS Solution

Hardware and System Description: ImageThe

drone serves as a movable multifunctional sensing station,

equipped with sensing models, monitoring camera, GPS and
radio frequency link. A trained pilot can operate the drone
from as far as 800m away on the ground. The total weight of
the drone is less than 1.1kg, which gives an extended flight
time up to 30 minutes. The replaceable sensor modules give
the drone the capability to capture major air pollutants listed
by EPA, including Ozone, NO2, SO2, CO, PM2.5 and Lead.
The temperature and humidity can be also recorded at same
time by the drone. The drone carries digital cameras that record up to 60 minutes video with 1080p resolution. All the
data is transmitted through RF to the recording devices such
as computers or mobile phones, providing the real time monitoring data of air pollutants. Below are the high level system
designs of the hardware and the whole system.

Mobile Application and User Interface

An application on iOS platform is under development so the

data can be distributed easily to users. Below is an example of
the lite version, which actively shows the date from the onboard
sensors. In the pro version of this application, we provide historical data of each type of pollutants with time, as well as a heat
map of the flight path of the drone, as an indication of pollutants distribution for more research and commercial purposes.
Also, data analysis and algorithm functions will be added to
give pro version users a better interpretation of the data.

The APS Solution

Members:

Tianchi Liu is a senior student at UW Department of Computer Science &

Engineering. He is passionate about software development, data integration and
embedded system designs.
Snigdha Singh is an MBA student at the University of Washington Foster School of
Business. She has a background in the technology industry with experience in coding and project management.
Di Sun is a University of Washington PhD student in electrical engineering with a
background in analog circuit design and sensor design. Along with the rest of APSs
engineering team, he is responsible for the product research and development.
Han Ye is a senior electrical engineering student at the University of Washington ,
matriculating to Stanford in fall 2015. He specializes in electric sensors, and is passionate about the intersection between hardware and software.
Dave Zerby is a member of the Foster MBA Class of 2016. A former attorney, he
has a deep interest in social entrepreneurship.
Lei Zhang is a first year MBA student at Foster School of Business. An experienced
commercial banker, he is passionate for commercializing technology to achieve social benefits.
Joshua Zhou is an electrical engineering student at the University of Washington,
with a background in sensors, digital IC design, and embedded system. He is passionate about mechatronics design and product management.
Yating Zhuang is a undergraduate student at the Universtiy of Washington, majoring
in Visual Communication Design, with a minor in Entrepreneurship. She designed
APSs user experience and interface.

Business Plan with in text cites

Aqmd.gov. SCAQMD Establishes Nations First Test Center for Low-Cost Portable Air Quality Sensors. 14
July 2014. Web. 02.15.2015.
Wyofile.com. Bleizeffer, Dustin. State adds air quality monitoring station. 17 May 2011.
Valleyair.org. Breitler, Alex. S.J. adds 4th air monitor station. Stockton Record. 12 May 2011. Web.
02.15.2015.
EPA.gov. Flint Hills Resources, Port Arthur Clean Air Act Settlement. Web. 02.15.2015.
EPA.gov. Health. Web. 02.15.2015.
EPA.gov. National Enforcement Initiative: Cutting Hazardous Air Pollutants. Web. 02.15.2015.
EPA.gov. What Are the Six Common Air Pollutants?. Web. 02.15.2015.
BCCResearch.com. Lindsey, Keiran. Air Pollution and the Market for Sensors. Business Communications
Company, Inc. 2003 Feb: xxvii. Web. 02.15.2015.
Mytzoa.com. Web. 02.15.2015.
PA.gov. Web. 02.15.2015.