Research and Development

Aretas has and always will have, a minimum 25% commitment of all our activities towards pure R&D.  It takes a lifelong commitment to make a difference.

Aretas has a strong 8 year history and commitment to Research and Development in this space. We continuously review contemporary research around the effects of contaminants present in indoor spacs, the effects of those contaminants on people and how to best integrate low-cost but accurate sensor technology in a ubiquitous way to identify the levels of these contaminants continuously. For example; modern research suggests that much lower levels of CO2 affect cognitive function than was previously understood. One of our first IRAP assisted studies was quantifying the levels of CO2 in classrooms. We found that CO2 levels in many cases were 5-8 times higher than the levels that were indicated to affect cognitive function. Could installing CO2 monitors in every classroom improve learning outcomes nationally?

We believe that low cost, ubiquitous sensing is the first important step to understanding how we can improve the human condition where we spend the most time (indoors). We develop our own sensors, but we also conduct continuous research into every sensor available on the market to evaluate it’s suitability for inclusion in our products and their general suitability. We test and characterize these sensors against reference gases, instrumentation or known standards. We evaluate sensors for temperature and relative humidity stability, cross sensitivities, consistent response, sensitivity, etc.

Main analytes of interest are:

  • Particulate Matter (PM 1.0, PM 2.5, PM 10)
  • CO2 (in particular how CO2 affects cognitive function at lower levels than previously thought)
  • Thermal (precision temperature, thermal comfort, radiant temp)
  • Precision Humidity
  • Sound Spectrum
  • Carbon Monoxide
  • Nitrogen Dioxide
  • Volatile Organic Compounds
  • Other compounds of interest (formaldehyde etc.)
  • Ozone
  • Light Spectrum
  • Radiation

Aretas has also innovated several unique sensor technologies, specifically:

  • World’s only Surface Dust Accumulation Sensor
  • First cloud enabled IoT Sound Spectrum Sensor
  • Cigarette Smoke detector
  • A new PID methodology

Aretas also conducts active research in the following areas:

  • Machine learning and its applications for sensors and wellness
  • Machine learning and it’s applicability to identify contaminants of interest automatically (such as cigarette smoke)
  • IoT gateway solutions and interactions with Cloud
  • Building Occupant and Classification systems
  • Unique applications for existing sensor technologies (for example, can our sensors detect if  you left the stove on)