PR88428

BOSTON and TOKYO, March 10, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- Safecast will deploy Airnote devices at Fukushima during a live-streamed 10

year anniversary event.

Safecast, a global leader in open environmental data, and Blues Wireless, a

leading developer of IoT cloud cellular solutions, today announced Airnote, an

air quality monitoring device with unprecedented simplicity and

cost-effectiveness. By removing complexity and barriers to use, Airnote enables

the mass deployment of air quality sensors at a cost of nearly half that of

other products on the market.

"Ten years ago, the crisis at Fukushima brought together many talented

individuals from around the globe to serve a common purpose: enable people to

understand the conditions impacting the safety of their environment," said Ray

Ozzie, founder of Blues Wireless and Safecast volunteer. "The nonprofit

organization Safecast, Blues Wireless, and ultimately the Airnote device were

all borne as a result of this collaboration."

All of the air quality measurements collected by Airnote are sent directly to

the Safecast platform and published into the public domain as part of their

global environmental dataset.

To date, air quality, water quality, radiation, and other aspects of the

environment have involved expensive equipment, careful site work for device

placement, and challenges in establishing reliable outdoor network

connectivity. Airnote is a fully integrated zero-setup solar-powered device

that easily attaches to the outside of any sunny window. At regular intervals,

Airnote automatically uploads air quality data using cellular networks in more

than 130 countries, no registration or network setup required. Airnote includes

a pre-paid/pre-activated data plan that will run for the entire lifetime of the

device.

These capabilities are enabled by the Blues Wireless Notecard (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3091571-1&h=419623920&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblues.io%2F&a=Notecard

), a small data pump that manufacturers embed within their products to greatly

simplify the task of securely moving data to and from the cloud over cellular

networks. Blues Wireless began first volume shipments of the Notecard this past

December.

Airnote provides information on a display or users can scan its QR code and

view charts and graphs online. The device measures temperature, humidity, air

pressure, and density of particulate matter in PM1, PM2.5, and PM10. Data

uploaded by Airnote devices benefits everyone, designated into the public

domain at birth. Through notehub.io (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3091571-1&h=14033389&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnotehub.io%2F&a=notehub.io

), the Blues Wireless real-time data router, and Safecast's databases and maps,

data is available worldwide for analysis, education, or even commercial use.

While data is anonymous by default, device owners can optionally claim devices

and be credited for data uploads.

"While Fukushima was an unequivocal disaster, the event presented us with an

opportunity to better plan for the future and safety of our environment," said

Pieter Franken, co-founder and Japan director of Safecast. "The global data

we'll receive from Airnote will accelerate the pace of citizen-led open data,

moving us towards a healthier global environment, while enabling faster and

more efficient reactions to future crises."

Airnote is available to order at shop.blues.io (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3091571-1&h=1736558865&u=https%3A%2F%2Fshop.blues.io%2F&a=shop.blues.io

) and will be featured during Safecast's live-streamed driving tour of

Fukushima and surrounding communities on March 13, 2021. The tour will pay

tribute to the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima accident and Safecast's

founding. Throughout the event, Safecast volunteers, including Ray Ozzie, will

talk to residents and people involved with the accident, as well as current

supporters of worldwide environmental monitoring solutions. Safecast will

install dozens of Airnote devices along the way.

The day-long event will begin Saturday, March 13 at 9 am JST (Friday, March 12

at 7 pm EST) and will be broadcast live via YouTube. There will be

opportunities for viewers to ask questions and otherwise engage in the event.

To participate please register for free or reserve premium seats at

https://safecast.org/safecast10/.

About Blues Wireless

Founded in 2019, Blues Wireless is the creator of Notecard, the fastest and

most cost-effective way to add wireless connectivity to any product. Notecard

is a highly secure system on a module (SoM) with embedded 10-year global

connectivity that allows any developer to send data from remote assets using

JSON and two-lines of code. The data is routed to the cloud applications of

customers' choice, again using simple JSON and REST. Blues's customers

represent leading and innovative companies spanning agriculture, automotive,

construction, healthcare, industrial, manufacturing, retail, supply chain &

cold chain, transportation, and logistics. Use cases range from simple tracking

and remote monitoring to edge analytics and remote control. Blues is

headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Please connect with us at

hello@blues.com or visit blues.io (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3091571-1&h=4212536847&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblues.io%2F&a=blues.io

) for more information.

About Safecast

"Safecast has revolutionized citizen-science." (Popular Mechanics, March 2018).

Safecast is an international, nonprofit, volunteer organization devoted to

collecting open environmental data. After the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, open &

trustworthy information was unavailable–Safecast was formed in response, and

quickly began monitoring, collecting, and sharing environmental radiation data.

Growing quickly in size, scope, and geographical reach, Safecast's mission is

to provide people worldwide with the tools they need to inform themselves by

gathering and sharing reliable environmental data in an open and participatory

fashion. For more information, please visit safecast.org (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3091571-1&h=1530882640&u=https%3A%2F%2Fsafecast.org%2F&a=safecast.org

), or reach out to info@safecast.org.

SOURCE Blues Wireless

CONTACT: Peter Nilsson, Blues Wireless. +1-858-880-5466, pnilsson@blues.com