Pollution monitoring using integrated sensing and communications.

Abstract

A method for monitoring air pollution is provided, the method including receiving a wireless communication signal by a receiver; measuring, by the receiver, attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal; processing the detected measurement data to obtain air pollution information; and outputting the obtained air pollution information results.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is based on and claims priority to Indian Provisional Patent Application No. 202321006920, filed with the Indian Patent Office on February 3, 2023, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] Systems and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to monitoring air pollution, and more particularly to monitoring air pollution in an efficient and accurate manner using integrated sensing and communication. [Background technology]

[0003] Generally, mobile operators continue to experience enormous demand for various features (e.g., high-speed communications) from users of electronic devices (e.g., smartphones) driven by multimedia applications and an ever-increasing number of electronic devices connected to core networks (e.g., fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) mobile networks).

[0004] The Integrated Sensing and Communications in 5G System specified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) is a 5G New Radio (NR) wireless communication system and infrastructure for sensing capabilities and communications to provide sensing information that may come from radio frequency-based sensors and / or non-radio frequency-based sensors. In a 5G network, base stations are deployed by operators with radio cell plans that enable wide area coverage.

[0005] Air pollution monitoring is important for protecting public health and the environment. Air directly affects health, and exposure to certain pollutants can cause a range of health problems, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other illnesses. Therefore, accurate and efficient air pollution monitoring is needed.

[0006] Traditionally, air pollution monitoring equipment mainly includes fixed monitoring stations and mobile monitoring equipment. Current fixed monitoring stations are mainly divided into large fixed monitoring stations (large stations) and small monitoring stations (small stations), while mobile monitoring equipment mainly includes special air quality monitoring vehicles, drones, and handheld devices.

[0007] Alternatively, current air quality monitoring can be characterized as a specialized monitoring system that uses numerous low-cost air quality monitoring sensors on public transportation or other parts of urban infrastructure. The former provides highly accurate air quality information but suffers from low spatial resolution and high deployment and maintenance costs. Meanwhile, the latter suffers from poor accuracy unless the sensors are periodically recalibrated against professional-grade equipment. Currently, performing sensor calibration is time-consuming and cumbersome, limiting the scale at which these types of deployed equipment can operate. These specialized monitoring systems are very expensive and have low spatial resolution, while the use of millions of low-cost sensors leads to poor accuracy. Therefore, these particular problems have been experienced with the development of air pollution monitoring and tracking.

[0008] Therefore, related systems have failed to adequately provide an air quality monitoring system that is inexpensive and addresses the drawbacks of using millions of low-cost sensors throughout a city or region. It is therefore desirable to provide a useful alternative for air pollution monitoring that addresses the above-mentioned drawbacks and others and efficiently and accurately monitors air pollution using base stations and user equipment. Summary of the Invention

[0009] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to monitoring air pollution using wireless communication signal attenuation. Ultimately, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure eliminate the burden of installing numerous low-cost air quality monitoring sensors in public transportation systems and performing sensor calibration, which can be expensive, time-consuming, and tedious.

[0010] According to one embodiment, there is provided a method for monitoring air pollution, comprising receiving a wireless communication signal by a receiver, measuring by the receiver attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain sensed measurement data of the received wireless communication signal, processing the sensed measurement data to obtain air pollution information, and outputting the obtained air pollution information results.

[0011] According to one embodiment, there is provided a system that may be implemented by at least one memory that stores instructions and at least one processor that is configured to execute the instructions to receive wireless communication signals, measure attenuation of millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signals in the received wireless communication signals to obtain sensed measurement data of the received wireless communication signals, process the sensed measurement data to obtain air pollution information, and output the obtained air pollution information results.

[0012] According to one embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium has stored thereon instructions executable by at least one processor configured to perform a method for monitoring air pollution, the method including receiving a wireless communication signal by a receiver; measuring, by the receiver, attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal; processing the detected measurement data to obtain air pollution information; and outputting the obtained air pollution information results.

[0013] Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be realized by practice of presented embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0014] Features, aspects, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the architecture of 5G new radio according to related technology.

[0016] [Figure 2] FIG. 1 illustrates a system for monitoring air pollution levels using integrated sensors and communications.

[0017] [Figure 3] FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of method steps according to one embodiment.

[0018] [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates a table of exemplary key performance indicators (KPIs) for calculating air pollution information, according to one embodiment.

[0019] [Figure 5] FIG. 2 illustrates various components in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

[0020] [Figure 6] FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary components of a device according to one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] The following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings.

[0022] The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of implementations. Moreover, one or more features or components of one embodiment may be incorporated into or combined with another embodiment (or one or more features of another embodiment). Furthermore, in the flowcharts and descriptions of operations provided below, it is understood that one or more operations may be omitted, one or more operations may be added, one or more operations may be performed concurrently (at least in part), or the order of one or more operations may be interchanged.

[0023] It will be apparent that the systems and / or methods described herein may be implemented in various forms, including hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and / or methods is not limiting of the implementation. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and / or methods are described herein without reference to specific software code. It should be understood that software and hardware can be designed to implement the systems and / or methods based on the description herein.

[0024] Although particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and / or disclosed herein, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of possible implementations. Indeed, many of these features can be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and / or disclosed herein. Although each dependent claim listed below may depend directly on only one claim, the disclosure of possible implementations includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set.

[0025] No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or required unless explicitly stated as such. Also, as used herein, the articles "a" and "an" are intended to include one or more items and may be used interchangeably with "one or more." Where only one item is intended, the term "one" or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, terms such as "has," "have," "having," "include," and "including" are intended to be open-ended terms. Furthermore, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based at least in part on," unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, phrases such as "at least one of [A] and [B]" or "at least one of [A] or [B]" should be understood to include A only, B only, or both A and B.

[0026] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and systems for air quality monitoring using integrated sensing and communication, and in particular, for tracking and monitoring air quality based on wireless communication signal attenuation.

[0027] Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the present disclosure may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Those skilled in the art will recognize, in light of the description herein, that the present disclosure may be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0028] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for monitoring air pollution in an efficient and accurate manner using integrated sensing and communication based on the attenuation of wireless communication signals (e.g., millimeter wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) frequencies used in 5G New Radio (5G NR)).

[0029] 1 shows a related art 5G new radio architecture. The related system includes user equipment 101A, 101B, 101C, and 101D, a base station 100, a core network 102, and a server 103.

[0030] 2 illustrates a system for monitoring air pollution information using integrated sensors and communications, according to one embodiment. The system includes user equipment 201A, 201B, 201C, and 201D, a base station 200, a core network 102, and a server 203.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 2, wireless communication signals may be received by a receiver that is affected by absorbing wireless communication signals due to air pollutants (e.g., ozone (O), sulfur dioxide (SO), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), etc.). Furthermore, when the receiver, which may be a transmitter (e.g., antenna, base station 200) or user equipment 201A, 201B, 201C, and 201D (e.g., smartphone, tablet, PDA, etc.), receives wireless communication signals attenuated due to air pollutants, the receiver may be able to measure the air pollution level as the air pollutants travel from the transmitter to the receiver. In particular, it is already known that different air pollutants absorb wireless communication signals differently due to their respective characteristics. Then, due to air pollutant absorption of the wireless communication signals, the wireless signals are attenuated differently. As a result, the air pollutants reduce the strength of the wireless communication signals received by the receiver. The receiver may then store the attenuation of the wireless communication signals as detected measurement data in either a storage memory or a cloud server. The sensed measurement data may be processed by the receiver and transmitted to the server 203, or may be processed by the server to obtain air pollution information. The receiver may report the air pollution information to the server 203 via the core network 102. According to one embodiment, the server 203 may be a data center or an application server for outputting the results of the obtained air pollution information. The application server may be in a network node or an authorized third-party server that may have access to the results of the obtained air pollution information (e.g., at least one of an air quality index (AQI), information or concentrations of particulate matter or pollutants in the air, etc.).

[0032] 3 is a flowchart of a method for efficiently and accurately monitoring air pollution using integrated sensing and communication and wireless communication signal attenuation. In FIG. 3, operations 301-302 are performed by a receiver, and operations 303-304 may be performed by either a server, a base station, or user equipment.

[0033] In operation 301, a receiver receives a wireless communication signal. According to one embodiment, the wireless communication signal is a 5G communication signal, although it is understood that one or more other embodiments are not limited thereto and may be applicable to other wireless signals, for example, mmWave / THz frequency band signals. According to one embodiment, the receiver may be user equipment or another device (e.g., a dedicated attenuation measurement device) that receives wireless communication signals from a base station, or may be a base station that receives wireless communication signals from user equipment or another device. The receiver may be any device (e.g., a PDA, a computer, a tablet) connected to a 5G NR core network and that transmits and receives wireless communication signals to and from a base station.

[0034] In operation 302, the receiver measures the attenuation of the mmWave / THz signal present in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data. According to one embodiment, the receiver may measure the attenuation of the mmWave / THz signal present in the wireless communication signal by measuring the absorption coefficient caused by air pollutants and then measuring the attenuation of the received mmWave / THz signal. Furthermore, the receiver may store the attenuation as detected measurement data either in memory or on a cloud server. Data on the absorption of mmWave / THz signals caused by various air pollutants is provided by public databases such as Spectraplot, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and High-Resolution Transmission Molecular Absorption (HITRAN). The process of measuring attenuation may be as described in "Effects of Major Air Pollutants on Millimeter Wave Spectrum" (Durjan et al., IEEE), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0035] In operation 303, the sensed measurement data is processed by a server, a base station, or a user equipment, or any other equipment (e.g., a dedicated attenuation measurement device) to obtain air pollution information (e.g., at least one of an air quality index (AQI), information or concentration of particulate matter or pollutants in the air, etc.). To this end, the receiver may output the sensed measurement data to the server at predetermined time intervals (e.g., every second or every 60 seconds), which may process the sensed measurement data. The air pollution information may be derived or determined from the measured attenuation (e.g., a look-up table or algorithm may be used to correlate the measured attenuation to one or more pollutants or particulate matter). According to one embodiment, the sensed measurement data may be processed by a server. Alternatively, the processing may be performed within a network node (e.g., within the base station or the receiver). Furthermore, according to one embodiment, the sensed measurement data may include location information corresponding to the sensed measurement data (e.g., at least one of a location of the receiver, a location of a transmitter transmitting a wireless communication signal, a path of the wireless communication signal, etc.). According to one embodiment, the receiver may process sensory measurement data collected from multiple different receivers or transmitted from multiple different transmitters (e.g., user equipment). Further, according to one embodiment, the processing may be performed by an application server that may have access to the sensory measurement data measured by the receiver. For example, the application server may be an authorized third-party business or organization that may utilize the sensory measurement data to generate results, i.e., air pollution information based on the sensory measurement data.

[0036] In operation 304, the server obtains air pollution information associated with the location information via a core network (e.g., a fifth generation new radio (5G NR) mobile network) and outputs the air pollution information to the server to generate a result. Alternatively, the server may be located within a network node (e.g., within a base station) of a default mobile service provider or network operator. Furthermore, the server may be an application server of an authorized third party. According to one embodiment, the receiver may output the air pollution information directly to a mobile service provider or network operator. According to one embodiment, the mobile service provider or network operator may be the receiver's default service provider or an authorized third party mobile service provider or network operator. Once the air pollution is output to the server, a result is generated. The result may include, but is not limited to, an air pollution map, pollution levels at a specific location, tracking of air pollution progress, etc. For example, based on the air pollution information including location information related to detected measurements of attenuation or corresponding particulate information, the server may output a visualization of the location-based air pollution information. The server may collect air pollution information from multiple different mobile network operators, base stations, etc. and provide visualizations based on this information collected from multiple sources.

[0037] 4 is a table of exemplary key performance indicators (KPIs) for calculating air pollution information. In particular, the server may be configured to support the detection service based on the KPIs, such as defining the type of detection service area (e.g., outdoor, indoor, etc.), the reliability level (e.g., 95%), the maximum range of the detection measurement data (e.g., 200 meters), the maximum detection service latency (e.g., 60 seconds), the refresh rate (e.g., 1 minute), the false negatives (e.g., 5%), and the false alarms (e.g., 5%). Alternatively, the server may be configured to calculate other KPIs and modify the values ​​of the aforementioned KPIs to provide an accurate and efficient air pollution monitoring system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The server may provide components (e.g., receivers) to the air pollution monitoring system, which may then perform the above-described operations according to the components.

[0038] 5 is a diagram of an example environment 500 in which the systems and / or methods described herein may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 5, environment 500 may include a user device 510, a platform 520, and a network 530. The devices in environment 500 may be interconnected via wired connections, wireless connections, or a combination of wired and wireless connections. In an embodiment, any of the functions and operations described with reference to FIG. 2 above may be performed by any combination of elements shown in FIG. 5.

[0039] The user device 510 includes one or more devices capable of receiving, generating, storing, processing, and / or providing information related to the platform 520. For example, the user device 710 may include a computing device (e.g., a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a handheld computer, a smart speaker, a server, etc.), a mobile phone (e.g., a smartphone, a wireless phone, etc.), a wearable device (e.g., smart glasses or a smart watch), or a similar device. In some implementations, the user device 510 can receive information from and / or transmit information to the platform 520.

[0040] Platform 520 includes one or more devices capable of receiving, generating, storing, processing, and / or providing information. In some implementations, platform 520 may include a cloud server or a collection of cloud servers. In some implementations, platform 520 may be designed to be modular, such that certain software components can be swapped in or out depending on particular needs. Thus, platform 520 can be easily and / or quickly reconfigured for different uses.

[0041] In some implementations, as shown, platform 520 may be hosted in a cloud computing environment 522. In particular, although the implementations described herein describe platform 520 as being hosted within cloud computing environment 522, in some implementations, platform 520 may not be cloud-based (i.e., may be implemented outside of a cloud computing environment) or may be partially cloud-based.

[0042] Cloud computing environment 522 includes an environment that hosts platform 520. Cloud computing environment 522 may provide services such as computation, software, data access, storage, etc. that do not require end-user (e.g., user device 510) knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the systems and / or devices that host platform 520. As shown, cloud computing environment 522 may include a collection of computing resources 524 (collectively referred to as “computing resources 524” and individually referred to as “computing resource 524”).

[0043] The computing resources 524 include one or more personal computers, clusters of computing devices, workstation computers, server devices, or other types of computing and / or communication devices. In some implementations, the computing resources 524 may host the platform 520. Cloud resources may include compute instances running within the computing resources 524, storage devices provided within the computing resources 524, data transfer devices provided by the computing resources 524, etc. In some implementations, the computing resources 724 may communicate with other computing resources 524 via wired connections, wireless connections, or a combination of wired and wireless connections.

[0044] As further shown in FIG. 5, the computing resources 524 include a collection of cloud resources, such as one or more applications (“APP”) 524-1, one or more virtual machines (“VM”) 524-2, virtualized storage (“VS”) 524-3, and one or more hypervisors (“HYP”) 524-4.

[0045] The application 524-1 includes one or more software applications that may be provided to or accessed by the user device 510. The application 524-1 may eliminate the need to install and run software applications on the user device 510. For example, the application 524-1 may include software associated with the platform 520 and / or any other software that may be provided via the cloud computing environment 522. In some implementations, one application 524-1 may send and receive information to one or more other applications 524-1 via a virtual machine 524-2.

[0046] Virtual machine 524-2 includes a software-implemented machine (e.g., a computer) that executes programs like a physical machine. Virtual machine 524-2 can be either a system virtual machine or a process virtual machine, depending on the application and the degree to which virtual machine 524-2 matches any actual machine. A system virtual machine may provide a complete system platform that supports the execution of a complete operating system (“OS”). A process virtual machine may execute a single program or support a single process. In some implementations, virtual machine 524-2 may run on behalf of a user (e.g., user device 510) and manage the infrastructure of cloud computing environment 522, such as data management, synchronization, or long-term data transfer.

[0047] Virtualized storage 524-3 includes one or more storage systems and / or one or more devices that use virtualization technology within the storage systems or devices of computing resources 524. In one implementation, in the context of a storage system, types of virtualization may include block virtualization and file virtualization. Block virtualization may refer to the abstraction (or separation) of logical storage from physical storage so that the storage system can be accessed regardless of the physical storage or heterogeneous structure. The separation may provide storage system administrators with flexibility in how they manage storage for end users. File virtualization may eliminate the dependency between data accessed at the file level and where the file is physically stored. This may enable performance optimization of storage usage, server consolidation, and / or nondisruptive file migration.

[0048] The hypervisor 524-4 may provide hardware virtualization technology that allows multiple operating systems (e.g., "guest operating systems") to run simultaneously on a host computer, such as the computing resource 524. The hypervisor 524-4 may present a virtual operating platform to the guest operating systems and may manage the execution of the guest operating systems. Multiple instances of different operating systems may share virtualized hardware resources.

[0049] Network 530 may include one or more wired and / or wireless networks. For example, network 530 may include a cellular network (e.g., a Fifth Generation (5G) network, a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network, a Third Generation (3G) network, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, etc.), a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a telephone network (e.g., a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)), a private network, an ad hoc network, an intranet, the Internet, an optical fiber-based network, etc., and / or a combination of these or other types of networks.

[0050] The number and arrangement of devices and networks shown in Figure 5 are provided as an example. In practice, there may be more, fewer, different, or differently arranged devices and / or networks than those shown in Figure 5. Furthermore, two or more devices shown in Figure 5 may be implemented within a single device, or a single device shown in Figure 5 may be implemented as multiple distributed devices. Additionally or alternatively, a set of devices (e.g., one or more devices) of environment 500 may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of devices of environment 500.

[0051] 6 is a diagram of example components of a device 600. The device 600 may correspond to a user device 510 and / or a platform 520. As shown in FIG. 6, the device 600 may include a bus 610, a processor 620, a memory 630, a storage component 640, an input component 650, an output component 660, and a communication interface 670.

[0052] The bus 610 includes components that enable communication between the components of the device 600. The processor 620 may be implemented in hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. The processor 620 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an accelerated processing unit (APU), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or another type of processing component. In some implementations, the processor 620 includes one or more processors that can be programmed to perform functions. The memory 630 includes random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), and / or another type of dynamic or static storage device (e.g., flash memory, magnetic memory, and / or optical memory) that stores information and / or instructions for use by the processor 620.

[0053] Storage component 640 stores information and / or software related to the operation and use of device 600. For example, storage component 640 may include a hard disk (e.g., a magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, and / or solid-state disk), a compact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a floppy disk, a cartridge, magnetic tape, and / or another type of non-transitory computer-readable medium, along with a corresponding drive. Input component 850 includes components that enable device 600 to receive information, such as via user input (e.g., a touchscreen display, a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, buttons, switches, and / or a microphone). Additionally or alternatively, input component 650 may include sensors for detecting information (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) component, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or an actuator). Output components 660 include components that provide output information from device 600 (eg, a display, a speaker, and / or one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs)).

[0054] The communication interface 670 includes transceiver-like components (e.g., a transceiver and / or a separate receiver and transmitter) that enable the device 600 to communicate with other devices via a wired connection, a wireless connection, or a combination of wired and wireless connections, etc. The communication interface 670 may enable the device 600 to receive information from another device and / or provide information to another device. For example, the communication interface 670 may include an Ethernet interface, an optical interface, a coaxial interface, an infrared interface, a radio frequency (RF) interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a Wi-Fi interface, a cellular network interface, etc.

[0055] Device 600 may perform one or more processes described herein. Device 600 may perform these processes in response to processor 620 executing software instructions stored by a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as memory 630 and / or storage component 640. A computer-readable medium is defined herein as a non-transitory memory device. A memory device includes memory space within a single physical storage device or memory space spread across multiple physical storage devices.

[0056] The software instructions may be loaded into memory 630 and / or storage component 640 from another computer-readable medium or from another device via communication interface 670. When executed, the software instructions stored in memory 630 and / or storage component 640 may cause processor 620 to perform one or more processes described herein.

[0057] Additionally or alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement one or more processes described herein. Thus, the implementations described herein are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

[0058] The number and arrangement of components shown in Figure 6 are provided as an example. In practice, device 600 may include additional, fewer, different, or differently arranged components than those shown in Figure 6. Additionally or alternatively, a set of components (e.g., one or more components) of device 600 may perform one or more functions that are described as being performed by another set of components of device 600.

[0059] In embodiments, any one of the operations or processes of Figures 2 and 3 may be implemented by or using any one of the elements shown in Figures 5 and 6. It will be appreciated that other embodiments are not limited thereto and may be implemented in a variety of different architectures (e.g., bare metal architectures, any cloud-based or deployment architectures such as Kubernetes, Docker, OpenStack, etc.).

[0060] The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of implementations.

[0061] An embodiment may relate to a system, method, and / or computer-readable medium at any possible level of technical detail. Furthermore, one or more of the above components described above may be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable medium(s) and executable by at least one processor (and / or may include at least one processor). The computer-readable medium may include a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium(s) having computer-readable program instructions for causing the processor to perform operations. The at least one processor may be distributed across multiple devices (e.g., user equipment, base stations, and servers), each executing instructions stored on media similarly distributed across the multiple devices.

[0062] A computer-readable storage medium may be a tangible device capable of retaining and storing instructions for use by an instruction execution device. A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or a suitable combination of any of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of computer-readable storage media includes portable computer diskettes, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), static random access memory (SRAM), portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD), memory stick, floppy disk, mechanically encoded devices such as punch cards or ridge-in-groove structures with instructions recorded thereon, and suitable combinations of any of the foregoing. As used herein, a computer-readable storage medium should not be construed as a transitory signal itself, such as an electric wave or other freely propagating electromagnetic wave, an electromagnetic wave propagating through a waveguide or other transmission medium (e.g., a light pulse passing through a fiber optic cable), or an electrical signal transmitted through a wire.

[0063] The computer-readable program instructions described herein may be downloaded from a computer-readable storage medium to each computing / processing device or to an external computer or storage device via a network, such as the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, and / or a wireless network. The network may include copper transmission cables, optical fiber transmissions, wireless transmissions, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers, and / or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface within each computing / processing device receives the computer-readable program instructions from the network and transfers the computer-readable program instructions for storage in a computer-readable storage medium within the respective computing / processing device.

[0064] The computer-readable program code / instructions for carrying out operations may be either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine-dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuits, or object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Smalltalk, C++, and procedural programming languages ​​such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The computer-readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider). In an embodiment, an electronic circuit, including, for example, a programmable logic circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or a programmable logic array (PLA), can execute computer-readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer-readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuit to perform aspects or operations.

[0065] These computer-readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, form means for implementing the functions / acts specified in one or more blocks of the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. These computer-readable program instructions may also be stored on a computer-readable storage medium that can instruct a computer, programmable data processing apparatus, and / or other device to function in a particular manner, such that the computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein includes an article of manufacture containing instructions that implement aspects of the functions / acts specified in one or more blocks of the flowcharts and / or block diagrams.

[0066] The computer-readable program instructions may also be loaded into a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device, causing the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device to perform a series of operational steps to create a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions, which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device, implement the functions / acts specified in one or more blocks of the flowcharts and / or block diagrams.

[0067] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer-readable media according to various embodiments. In this regard, each block in a flowchart or block diagram may represent a portion of a microservice, module, segment, or instruction set, which includes one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). The methods, computer systems, and computer-readable media may include additional, fewer, different, or differently arranged blocks than those shown in the figures. In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may actually be executed concurrently or substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending on the functionality involved. It should also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart diagrams, may be implemented by a special-purpose hardware-based system that performs the specified functions or actions or executes a combination of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[0068] It will be apparent that the systems and / or methods described herein may be implemented in various forms, including hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. The actual dedicated control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and / or methods is not limiting of the implementation. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and / or methods are described herein without reference to specific software code, and it will be understood that software and hardware can be designed to implement the systems and / or methods based on the description herein.

[0069] Various further respective aspects and features of embodiments of the present disclosure may be defined by the following clauses. Item [1] A method for monitoring air pollution, comprising: receiving a wireless communication signal by a receiver; measuring, by the receiver, the attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal; processing the detected measurement data to obtain air pollution information; and outputting the obtained air pollution information results. Item [2] The method described in Item [1], wherein the outputting includes transmitting the air pollution information to a server, analyzing the plurality of pieces of air pollution information obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave signals or THz signals in the plurality of wireless communication signals by the server, and generating a report on air pollution based on the analysis. Item [3] A method according to any one of items [1] to [2], wherein the receiver is a user equipment that receives wireless communication signals from a base station, or the receiver is a base station that receives wireless communication signals from a user equipment. Item [4] The method according to any one of items [1] to [3], wherein the processing includes processing the detected measurement data by the receiver to obtain air pollution information. Item [5] The method according to any one of items [1] to [4], wherein the processing includes transmitting the detected measurement data to a server by the receiver, and processing the detected measurement data by the server to obtain air pollution information. Item [6] The method described in Item [5], wherein transmitting includes transmitting a plurality of detection measurement data to a server at predetermined time intervals, and processing by the server includes processing the plurality of detection measurement data by the server to obtain air pollution information. Item [7] The method of any one of items [1] to [6], wherein the processing includes processing a plurality of sensed measurement data obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave signals or THz signals in a plurality of wireless communication signals to obtain air pollution information, and the plurality of wireless communication signals are transmitted by a plurality of user equipments to a base station that measures the attenuation, or transmitted by the base station to a plurality of user equipments that measure the attenuation. Item [8] A method according to any one of items [1] to [7], wherein the detection measurement data includes a measurement value of attenuation and at least one of location information and a path of the wireless communication signal corresponding to the detection measurement data. Item [9] A system for monitoring air pollution, comprising: at least one memory that stores instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to receive a wireless communication signal, measure attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal, process the detected measurement data to obtain air pollution information, and output the obtained air pollution information. Item

[10] The system described in Item [9], wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute instructions to analyze the plurality of air pollution information obtained by measuring the attenuation of mmWave signals or THz signals in the plurality of wireless communication signals, and output the results by generating a report on air pollution based on the analysis. Item

[11] A system described in any one of items [9] to

[10] , wherein the wireless communication signal is received from a base station by a user equipment performing the measurement, or the wireless communication signal is received from a user equipment by a base station performing the measurement. Item

[12] The system described in any one of items [9] to

[11] , wherein at least one processor is further configured to execute instructions to process multiple detection measurement data obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave signals or THz signals in multiple wireless communication signals to obtain air pollution information. Item

[13] A system as described in Item

[12] , in which multiple wireless communication signals are transmitted by multiple user equipment to a base station that measures attenuation, or by the base station to multiple user equipment that measures attenuation. Item

[14] A system described in any one of items [9] to

[13] , wherein the detection measurement data includes a measurement value of attenuation and at least one of location information and a path of the wireless communication signal corresponding to the detection measurement data. Item

[15] At least one non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having stored thereon instructions executable by at least one processor to perform a method for monitoring air pollution, the method including receiving, by a receiver, a wireless communication signal; measuring, by the receiver, attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal; processing the detected measurement data to obtain air pollution information; and outputting the obtained air pollution information. Item

[16] At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to Item

[15] , wherein the outputting includes analyzing a plurality of pieces of air pollution information obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave or THz signals in a plurality of wireless communication signals, and generating a report on air pollution based on the analysis. Item

[17] At least one non-transitory computer-readable recording medium described in any one of items

[15] to

[16] , wherein the receiver is a user equipment that receives wireless communication signals from a base station, or the receiver is a base station that receives wireless communication signals from a user equipment. Item

[18] At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium described in any one of Items

[15] to

[17] , wherein the processing includes processing a plurality of detection measurement data obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave signals or THz signals in a plurality of wireless communication signals to obtain air pollution information. Item

[19] At least one non-transitory computer-readable recording medium described in any one of items

[15] to

[18] , wherein multiple wireless communication signals are transmitted by multiple user equipment to a base station that measures attenuation, or transmitted by a base station to multiple user equipment that measures attenuation. Item

[20] At least one non-transitory computer-readable recording medium described in any one of items

[15] to

[19] , wherein the detection measurement data includes a measurement value of attenuation and at least one of location information and a path of a wireless communication signal corresponding to the detection measurement data.

[0070] It can be appreciated that many modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible in light of the above teachings. It will be apparent that, within the scope of the appended claims, the present disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

Claims

1. 1. A method for monitoring air pollution, comprising: receiving a wireless communication signal with a receiver; measuring, by the receiver, attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal; processing the sensed measurement data to obtain air pollution information; and outputting the results of the obtained air pollution information.

2. The outputting step includes: transmitting the air pollution information to a server; analyzing, by the server, the plurality of pieces of air pollution information obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave signals or THz signals in the plurality of wireless communication signals; and generating a report on air pollution based on the analysis.

3. the receiver is a user equipment that receives the wireless communication signal from a base station; or the receiver is the base station that receives the wireless communication signal from the user equipment; The method of claim 1.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing comprises processing the sensed measurement data by the receiver to obtain the air pollution information.

5. The processing comprises: transmitting the sensed measurement data by the receiver to a server; and processing the sensed measurement data by the server to obtain the air pollution information.

6. the transmitting step includes transmitting a plurality of pieces of sensed measurement data to the server at predetermined time intervals; the processing by the server includes processing the plurality of sensed measurement data by the server to obtain the air pollution information. The method of claim 5.

7. The processing step includes processing a plurality of sensed measurement data obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave signals or THz signals in a plurality of wireless communication signals to obtain the air pollution information; the plurality of wireless communication signals are transmitted by a plurality of user equipments to a base station that measures the attenuation, or by the base station to the plurality of user equipments that measure the attenuation; The method of claim 1.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detected measurement data includes a measurement of the attenuation and at least one of location information corresponding to the detected measurement data and a path of the wireless communication signal.

9. 1. A system for monitoring air pollution, comprising: at least one memory for storing instructions; at least one processor, Execute the instructions, receiving a wireless communication signal; measuring attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal; processing the sensed measurement data to obtain air pollution information; Output the obtained air pollution information and at least one processor configured to:

10. The at least one processor executes the instructions to: analyzing a plurality of pieces of air pollution information obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave or THz signals in a plurality of wireless communication signals; generating a report on air pollution based on said analysis; The system of claim 9 , further configured to output the results.

11. the wireless communication signal is received from a base station by a user equipment performing the measurements; or the wireless communication signal is received from the user equipment by the base station performing the measurements; The system of claim 9.

12. The at least one processor executes the instructions to: The system of claim 9 , further configured to process a plurality of sensed measurement data obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave or THz signals in a plurality of wireless communication signals to obtain the air pollution information.

13. the plurality of wireless communication signals are transmitted by a plurality of user equipments to a base station that measures the attenuation, or by the base station to the plurality of user equipments that measure the attenuation; The system of claim 12.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the detected measurement data includes a measurement of the attenuation and at least one of location information corresponding to the detected measurement data and a path of the wireless communication signal.

15. 1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions executable by at least one processor to perform a method for monitoring air pollution, the method comprising: receiving a wireless communication signal with a receiver; measuring, by the receiver, attenuation of a millimeter wave (mmWave) or terahertz (THz) signal in the received wireless communication signal to obtain detected measurement data of the received wireless communication signal; processing the sensed measurement data to obtain air pollution information; and outputting the results of the obtained air pollution information.

16. The outputting step includes: Analyzing the plurality of pieces of air pollution information obtained by measuring the attenuation of mmWave or THz signals in the plurality of wireless communication signals; and generating a report regarding air pollution based on the analysis.

17. the receiver is a user equipment that receives the wireless communication signal from a base station; or 16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the receiver is the base station that receives the wireless communication signal from the user equipment.

18. The processing comprises:

16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, comprising obtaining the air pollution information by processing a plurality of sensed measurement data obtained by measuring attenuation of mmWave or THz signals in a plurality of wireless communication signals.

19. 20. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of wireless communication signals are transmitted by a plurality of user equipment to a base station that measures the attenuation, or by the base station to the plurality of user equipment that measures the attenuation.

20. 16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the detected measurement data includes a measurement of the attenuation and at least one of location information corresponding to the detected measurement data and a path of the wireless communication signal.

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