NASAPP

Multi-layer data platform for the management and anticipation of odour episodes in port environments through the concept of citizen science.

The NASAPP project develops a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform of multilayer data that allows monitoring odours in real-time through the concept of citizen science, adding to the current tools of pollutant dispersion models and sensors, the concept of citizen science to measure the concentration of odour nuisance and its dispersion in the territory.

The NASAPP app provides citizens with a tool that allows them to register odour nuisance incidents. These individual records make up a dynamic map of dispersion and geographical impact to subsequently provide this information to users of the port authorities and thus be able to work the data statistically for scientific-technical studies aimed at determining the causes that produce episodes of odour nuisance, validation of models of dispersion of pollutants or early warning of an incident at an industrial level.

Through the Ports 4.0 programme, the project has obtained funding to improve and implement machine learning algorithms in port areas. The prototype is currently being implemented in the Port of Tarragona, to predict possible odour episodes that may affect the port community and neighbours near the port area. The Port Authority of Tarragona already has atmospheric meters for the characterisation of air quality, but thanks to the NASAPP project it will now have more data and information that will allow it to optimise its operations and improve the quality of life of the port community and its neighbours.

The platform has backtracking algorithms that make it possible to locate and contextualise the origin of the odour episode. But thanks to the Ports 4.0 project, NASAPP goes a step further in the prediction and characterisation of odour episodes, materialising as an application and with a web manager capable of integrating the olfactory sensory perception of citizens in real-time.

Thus, the platform acts as an early warning system for critical events and environmental monitoring, determining their source and overcoming the limitations of chemical equipment that does not allow in situ quantification of odour episodes with the precision of human olfaction.

Eurecat participates in the NASAPP project through its Chemical Technology Unit and the Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI) Unit, which develops and implements predictive algorithms based on the combination of artificial intelligence technologies, meteorological data and citizen registration data.

The Valorization Area carries out all the necessary processes to increase the economic value of research, converting the results of its developments into viable and industrializable products, maximizing the possibilities of transfer to the market.