Industries & Applications
Reducing maintenance, increasing accuracy: QuantAQ teams up with Gill Instruments
QuantAQ pairs Gill MaxiMet weather stations with dense air-quality monitors to cut maintenance and improve source attribution
Background
QuantAQ’s core business is the design and manufacture of air quality monitors. The company works with state and federal agencies across the world to expand monitoring networks by adding higher-density instruments around existing reference stations. QuantAQ also supports fence-line and community monitoring initiatives, partnering with local groups and industrial facilities, such as cement plants, coal terminals, and data centres, to track air pollution more closely.
In addition, the team provides regulatory-driven monitoring solutions for industries such as construction, demolition, and mining, where dust mitigation and compliance are critical
Challenge
Over the past five years, QuantAQ has been offering weather stations paired with most of its air quality monitors. Many of these systems are deployed in remote locations where maintenance is logistically challenging. The company therefore needed a highly accurate and durable weather station capable of operating reliably under extreme environmental conditions.
For instance, in the case of their customer, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), many monitoring sites are located in small, isolated communities, some with populations of just 100 to 200 people, that can only be reached after extensive travel involving small planes and boats. Given these constraints, reliability and low maintenance were essential.
Results
Over the past year, QuantAQ has been integrating Gill MaxiMet compact weather stations into its air quality monitor solutions.
“We were looking for accurate, reliable hardware at the right price point. The rugged design and digital output solved the analogue issues that drove support tickets,” says David Hagan, CEO & Co-Founder, QuantAQ. “Our promise is set it and forget it – MaxiMet installs quickly, integrates cleanly, and with no moving parts requires little to no scheduled maintenance.”
MaxiMet key features and capabilities
Used as stand-alone measurement or integrated into larger systems, MaxiMet has features that makes it ideal for air quality applications:
- No moving parts → lower drift, reduce need for calibration, minimal maintenance and low cost of ownership.
- Digital outputs (e.g.RS-232→ clean integration; fewer wiring faults than analogue.
- Compact, rugged housing → reliable in land and marine demanding environments.
- Compass → internal compass, installation time is faster and you don’t need to worry about alignment
- Low power mode → better for solar/battery sites.
Hagan adds: “One of the key value propositions of our instruments is that you can ‘set it and forget it’. Switching to Gill MaxiMet was a no-brainer: it’s easy to install and integrate, it’s accurate, reliable, and robust and with no moving parts, it requires little to no maintenance.”
MaxiMet in the field – how it is used in air quality installations
MaxiMet compact weather stations measure key weather parameters such as wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative/absolute humidity, pressure, precipitation, solar radiation, and more.
When integrated with air quality monitor solutions they provide critical actionable insights to users. For example:
- Wind (speed & direction) → “Where did it come from?”
When particulate matter (PM) spikes, look upwind. Wind points you to the likely source area. - Temperature, humidity, and pressure → “Make the sensor honest.”
Temperature, humidity, and pressure can skew sensor measurements. Use T/RH to correct the readings. - Rain → “Washed out air.”
Rain scrubs particles from the sky, so PM often drops during/after showers.
| Issue with prior analogue weather station | After MaxiMet (digital) |
|---|---|
| Signal noise/calibration drift | Stable readings; fewer false alarms |
| Loose wiring/water ingress tickets | Sealed unit; support tickets down 50% |
| Complex integration | Plug-and-play via RS-232 |
If you want to learn more about how MaxiMet weather stations can be used in air quality monitor applications, get in touch with our team now.
Recommended compact weather stations
MaxiMet is an advanced compact weather station designed and manufactured by Gill Instruments using proven technology to measure meteorological and environmental parameters to international standards.