Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions – AICOS
12.06.2024
A team from Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS (FhP-AICOS) is developing a recommendation system aimed at passively enhancing the living conditions on social housing. The solution integrates different functions. On the one hand, there is a set of sensors, connected to a mobile application, which sends alerts whenever necessary. However, the project in question - Porto Sense - goes beyond technology and encompasses a literacy aspect in relation to thermal comfort and indoor air quality.
PortoSense, being developed by FhP-AICOS together with Porto Digital and Domus Porto, is part of CommuniCity, a transformative citizen-centred EU funded project. The study started at the beginning of 2024 with interviews with five specialists, including thermal comfort and air quality experts, civil engineering professors, and Domus Porto technicians. Focusing on a human-centered design approach, eight residents from different social housing neighborhoods were also interviewed to understand more about their challenges and needs. The researchers from the Human-Centred Design team have now deployed the solution in the field in seven houses in the city of Porto.
The digital recommendation system encompasses a mobile application and a set of sensors. These sensors collect data on temperature and humidity of the homes and send alerts via the application installed on the residents’ mobile phones. Over the next few days, the FhP-AICOS team will be interviewing the residents of the homes in which the digital solution has been installed.
The main goal of Porto Sense is to co-design a recommendation system that enhances thermal comfort and overall health in residential buildings by offering residents an easily accessible tool to display data from their living environment.
An open session is planned for the near future to increase public awareness of the issue. CommuniCity is an EU-funded project with a citizen-centered approach, aiming to launch 100 Tech Pilots in urban and peri-urban areas across Europe to empower marginalized communities.