As promised, we have published the Air Lab firmware source code on GitHub. You can browse the code, open issues, and contribute to the project:
Whether you want to understand how your device works under the hood, customize the firmware, or build on top of it, the code is now yours to explore.
We have also published the official Air Lab manual on our website:
The manual covers everything you need to get started with your Air Lab, including setup, connecting to Wi-Fi, using the different measurement modes, and integrating with Home Assistant. We will keep updating it as we add new features.
Our team made a short video documenting the assembly process that took place in December. Have a look:
UEVc5fp2x7k
We are continuing to work on new firmware features and content for you. If you have questions or run into any issues, don’t hesitate to reach out or join the conversation in the GitHub Discussions.
That’s all for now. Thanks for your continued support, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/first-batch-shipped
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/first-batch-shipped", "title": "First Batch Shipped!", "summary": "Hello, Air Lab backers! The first batch of Air Labs has successfully been shipped out to you. We have also published the Air Lab firmware on GitHub and released the official manual on our website. We look forward to seeing what you will build with your Air Lab!", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/1f0992c6-3f3c-463c-8687-5c91ba79c818", "date_modified": "2026-02-27T11:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/air-labs-shipping-soon", "content_html": "After grappling with the complex import process and running into a couple of dead ends, we managed to solve all compliance issues and send the first batch of Air Labs to Mouser. From there, they will process all your orders and start fulfillment. We expect shipping to start in mid-February.
In the meantime, please double-check the shipping address on your Crowd Supply account and make sure it’s current and accurate. If you need help updating your shipping information, you can get in touch with Crowd Supply support via this contact form.
Together with your Air Lab, you will get an invitation to join our testing program to access exclusive beta features and to submit your feedback and ideas directly to us. We are also finishing up the GitHub repository and the documentation and we are preparing new video content for you. Stay tuned!
That’s all for now. We are very excited to hear your thoughts when you get your device. In the meantime, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/air-labs-shipping-soon
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/air-labs-shipping-soon", "title": "Air Labs Shipping Soon", "summary": "Hello, Air Lab backers! We are very excited to announce that your Air Labs have left our office and are on their way to Mouser! Here is a brief update.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/8367ad1e-e93e-4c6f-8b41-da3417c22c93", "date_modified": "2026-02-12T11:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/shipping-in-january", "content_html": "Although the Air Labs have been packed and are ready to ship from our Zurich office since early December, importing them to the US proved itself more complex than we anticipated. We need to register with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and pre-prepare all documents to ensure a smooth handling at the port of entry. We’re now working with a US customs broker to resolve these issues and expect everything to be cleared in the first weeks of the new year.
Granted we clear all the documents needed during the first two weeks of January, we will ship to Mouser mid-January, and from there the fulfillment of your orders should take place between the end of January and early February. We are in touch with the Crowd Supply team, and if anything changes and we manage to ship sooner, we will let you know with a new update.
Jeff, who has been testing the Air Lab for quite some time now, recently published a video in which he shared a lot of insights on how he’s using the Air Lab.
In case you haven’t seen the video, check it out!
While we wait to ship your Air Labs by the beginning of the new year, we will keep working on the software experience, documentation, and preparing the GitHub repository.
That’s all for now. We are very grateful for your support and patience. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/shipping-in-january
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/shipping-in-january", "title": "Shipping in January", "summary": "Hello, Air Lab backers! We would have loved to ship your Air Labs in time for Christmas, but unfortunately bureaucracy got in the way. Here is a brief update and some new information about estimated shipping.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/e38c6004-e3c3-4985-8241-015db569a5d7", "date_modified": "2026-01-05T11:16:51.442Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/production-progress-report-3", "content_html": "After a long certification process, we passed all required tests for shipping the Air Lab internationally. This means both the device and the battery are now certified, and we can move on with the production of the devices. This process was complex and time-consuming, but luckily we found partners who helped us navigate it.
With this hurdle cleared, manufacturing of all pre-ordered Air Labs is now underway. We should receive the assembled PCBs in two weeks. Then, we’ll continue with the final assembly at our office. All other components are already in stock or currently being shipped to us.
Unfortunately, the certification took longer than expected and thus we’ve not been able to fulfill our hopes to ship by the end of October. Even though we’re doing our best to deliver the Air Lab as fast as possible, import and shipping conditions around the end of the year are challenging and may cause further delays. Based on that, we estimate that orders will be fulfilled in early January.
However, we’re working hard with everyone in the supply chain to squeeze every day that’s possible in the hope of delivering the devices to you before the Christmas holidays. #FingersCrossed
Once the PCBs arrive, we will power through the assembly as fast as we can to ship all your orders to Mouser. From then on, they will be in charge of the delivery of your Air Labs. Meanwhile, we are focusing on improving the software experience of our browser-based tools and on-device firmware, thanks to the great feedback gathered from our beta testers.
That’s all for now. Thanks a lot for your support and patience. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/production-progress-report-3
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/production-progress-report-3", "title": "Production Progress Report #3", "summary": "Hello, Air Lab backers! We achieved a big milestone this week: certification is complete! This means all the Air Labs are now in production, and we are getting ready for final assembly and shipping. Here is an overview of the latest developments and an updated shipping date estimate.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/c4de974e-3d78-4f0e-96aa-ed2d7ba03093", "date_modified": "2025-11-24T11:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/production-progress-report-2", "content_html": "Our supply chain is taking shape, and we already began stocking key components for the final assembly at our office. The displays have been straightforward to obtain, as we worked with the supplier before when prototyping the Air Lab.
Getting a battery, on the other hand, turned out to be more complex than anticipated. We initially hoped that we could find a supplier with a matching LiPo pack that already has all the needed certificates. But, we learned quickly that because of our slight customization request (wire length and connector), we need to acquire new fully matching certificates.
Luckily, this also revealed itself as an advantage. By making custom certificates, we’ve been able to lay the foundation for a potential stand-alone sale of the batteries as replacement parts. Now, once the battery certificates are available, we can continue with the certification of the device itself.
We want to thank our beta testers. Hearing from them has been very rewarding. They have shared how they use the device,offered new ideas, and, most importantly, reported firmware bugs they have encountered.
With their help, we’ve been able to quickly identify a major bug that caused a reset loop due to a file-system inconsistency. In response, we developed a "device recovery" tool that flashes the fixed firmware using the browser and a USB serial. We’re happy that this went smoothly and all beta testing units are working again.
We are very excited for the coming weeks. Our last prototype run, which implements important fixes uncovered in the EMV pre-testing, is arriving soon. When that has been cleared, we can work on the final certification and production of the device. Based on the current timeline, we hope to ship the first batch of devices to Crowd Supply by the end of October.
That’s all for now. Thanks a lot, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/production-progress-report-2
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/production-progress-report-2", "title": "Production Progress Report #2", "summary": "Hello, Air Lab backers! As reported in the last update, we are working on getting your Air Lab manufactured, packed, and ready for shipment. Here is a short update on the latest developments.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/02eaf25c-208b-4479-afcc-1901a5f6d0d7", "date_modified": "2025-09-12T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/production-progess-report-1", "content_html": "We received the new enclosures last week and are really happy with the results. We simplified the manufacturing process by adding steps to the inside wall, harmonized the angle for easier machining, and added bevels around the external edges. These bevels make a significant difference in how the device feels in your hand. Now it is just right!
With the arrival of the new enclosures we proceeded to assemble a new batch of devices in-house. We are excited to ship those 15 units to specific individuals across the globe, who will be using Air Lab in their everyday lives and will share valuable feedback with us. Stay tuned for some reviews and further updates.
Another important step for us is to design the packaging to give you a nice unboxing experience. We have been busy prototyping some ideas, and we will continue refining the design, exploring new materials, and incorporating new ideas for the final packaging, but we are happy with this first version for the beta testing units.
We have successfully pre-tested the Air Lab for EMV radiated emissions and conducted emissions. Emissions from the device are barely noticeable. The early investment into a 6-layer board with full power/ground pours seems to pay off. Unfortunately, we missed the TVS diodes on the buttons; we would have bricked the microcontroller instantly when doing the 8 kV HBM ESD test. Luckily, we have a final prototype round lined up in which we can fix that!
We remain focused on manufacturing as we finalize the orders for the bigger components and deal with battery certification. We already met with a local PCBA company and look forward to seeing the first devices roll off the reflow oven soon. Our team is also growing as we welcome a very talented industrial designer who will support us on multiple fronts, from packaging to tutorials.
That’s all for now. Thanks a lot, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/production-progress-report
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/production-progess-report-1", "title": "Production Progress Report #1", "summary": "Hello Air Lab backers! The campaign closed at the beginning of June, and the results exceeded our expectations. Thank you all for trusting and supporting our project. We are working to get everything production-ready and will provide more details about our expected ship date in a future update. Read more about our progress so far.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/ad2e0351-48df-4777-97d5-c886095cbde7", "date_modified": "2025-07-24T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/campaign-finale", "content_html": "We’re looking forward to shipping the Air Lab to you as soon as possible. In this weekly update, we want to give you a look at what will be happening in the weeks ahead before we switch to a monthly update schedule.
While we’ve been busy building the Air Lab Simulator, updating our website, and letting everyone know on social media that we’re crowdfunding Air Lab, we did not forget to continue improving the hardware. Last week, we got the latest PCB prototypes delivered and, after testing them for a while, we’re very happy with the results! We’re still waiting on the updated enclosures to put everything together. When that is done, we’re ready to take the next steps towards producing the Air Lab in larger quantities.
With the hardware design almost done, we’ll now start focussing on getting the appropriate certifications. This entails preliminary testing in our own lab before we send a device to an accredited laboratory for final tests. We’re looking forward to crossing this one off our to-do list!
Another big milestone is designing the packaging. As designers, we’re particularly keen on getting this done as nicely as possible.
In parallel, we’ll prepare the release of the firmware as an open-source project on GitHub. This will come together with a substantial update of our website, including a new manual section. In there, you’ll be able to find documentation on the device itself and how to customize and extend the firmware.
Thanks again to all backers of the project and the Crowd Supply team for their continuous efforts! Stay tuned for future updates on the project as we approach shipping day.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/campaign-finale
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/campaign-finale", "title": "Campaign Finale", "summary": "Hello Air Lab backers! We’re happy to announce we’ve reached our funding goal! Thank you for supporting our crowdfunding campaign! If you have not backed the project yet, this is a great time to show your support by reserving an Air Lab of your own from the first batch produced.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/8bc4c1e3-df41-4692-b1cd-e9d3e39d032e", "date_modified": "2025-06-05T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/firmware-simulator", "content_html": "Check it out now at https://networkedartifacts.com/airlab/simulator.
We have always dreamt of having a simulator to run the Air Lab firmware on a computer. Such a tool would drastically simplify the development, especially UI-related code that requires frequent tests on a device.
In the past, we tested various methods to build such a simulator. For example, we played with virtualization, as the esp-idf already supports QEMU, and explored scripting languages like Lua to code only the UI part and run it in a host app. Both approaches seemed either too complex or required a substantial amount of new code to support them.
In a final test, we attempted to compile the firmware with emscripten. This did not work immediately. But after mocking most of the APIs, we got it eventually running. Based on that success, we began a substantial firmware rewrite that separated the hardware-specific code into a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). This change reduced the API surface drastically and simplified the writing of adapters to the Web platform.
At the beginning of last week, we got everything working on the firmware-level and started building the surrounding app. In the process, we fixed various bugs and race conditions that were not apparent due to hardware latency on the ESP32.
We’re excited about what we achieved and look forward to hearing the feedback. The simulator is a great way for people to test the device before buying it. But we do not want to stop there. We plan to refine this technology in the next few months and ship it as part of the open-source firmware to everyone that wants to customize the Air Lab firmware. Look out for a future update on this. Cheers!
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/firmware-simulator
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/firmware-simulator", "title": "Firmware Simulator", "summary": "Hello everyone! This week’s update is a special one. We’re thrilled to announce “Air Lab Simulator” a web-based experience that allows you to play with the firmware comfortably from your browser.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/9a5e2e2d-1390-4e88-b370-89644ab97a65", "date_modified": "2025-05-27T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/a-deep-dive-into-integrating-air-lab-with-home-assistant", "content_html": "We wrote this campaign update in the style of a tutorial. This way you know exactly what it takes to use the Air Lab with Home Assistant and can follow it step-by-step when you get your device.
The Home Assistant project was started more than 10 years ago to provide an open-source platform for home automation. Today, many proprietary and open smart home devices can be connected to Home Assistant in order to read out their data or control them.
Many people deploy Home Assistant to a Raspberry Pi, which is a perfect host for such software. With the official “Raspberry Pi Imager” it is trivial to prepare an SD-Card with a full installation of Home Assistant ready to be set up. If you do not have a Raspberry Pi, check out their website for alternative installation option on your computer or in the cloud.
Follow these steps to set up Home Assistant:
Home Assistant supports multiple standards and protocols to integrate products with its system. While some are native/custom integrations written in Python, it also supports connecting devices with buses/bridges for Matter, Bluetooth, Zigbee, MQTT, and other protocols. For our initial integration with Air Lab, we decided to go with MQTT because of its simplicity. We might explore more “native” ways of integration in the future.
The MQTT protocol s a widely supported IoT protocol that is based on the standard TCP/IP network stack. To get communication going, it requires a “broker” to act as an intermediary to relay messages between clients. This architecture is very powerful and allows you to listen for the Air Lab sensor data from multiple applications at the same time. The Mosquitto MQTT broker is a widely used open-source broker that is also available for Home Assistant as an add-on.
Follow these steps to install the Mosquitto Add-on:
To connect the Air Lab with the Mosquitto Broker and, in turn, with Home Assistant, we need to configure the Wi-Fi network and MQTT credentials. To do that, we’ll use the Air Lab Studio, our web-based interface, to access the Air Lab and configure it.
Follow these steps to configure your Air Lab:
Home Assistant will automatically detect the device and add its entities to the system. You can now add the sensor values to your dashboard and configure automations that use the data as triggers or conditions.
Thanks for your interest in Air Lab! If you haven’t yet, now’s your chance to reserve your Air Lab while our crowdfunding campaign is live!
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/a-deep-dive-into-integrating-air-lab-with-home-assistant
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/a-deep-dive-into-integrating-air-lab-with-home-assistant", "title": "A deep dive into integrating Air Lab with Home Assistant", "summary": "Hi! In this update, we want to share a bit more about the Air Lab Home Assistant Integration. ", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/cf711da4-ace7-4f01-b931-0f2147b9c9c8", "date_modified": "2025-05-16T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/air-lab-user-interface-tour", "content_html": "The home screen of the Air Lab is Professor Robin’s Lab and his air quality measuring machine. From this screen, all features of the Air Lab are accessible.
The live view displays the recently measured samples from memory. It is very powerful and allows you to quickly understand how the air quality around you has changed in the past hours.
The Air Lab allows you to take multi-day measurements that store all measured samples on-device. This is great to precisely measure changes to air quality at home, in the office, or on the go. Later, you can analyze the data on-device or export it to a CSV file.
The coolest feature of Air Lab is the precision mode. It can be accessed from the live view or from a stored measurement by pressing the "A" key. This mode allows you to explore data in depth by scrolling through all available samples.
Of course, no device is complete without a settings screen. In ours, you can change the date and time, the language, power off the device, as well as completely reset the device if needed. We’ll certainly add more features in the future.
We hope you gained some insight into the user interface of the Air Lab. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks. If you have not yet backed the project, we would very much welcome your support!
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/air-lab-user-interface-tour
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/air-lab-user-interface-tour", "title": "Air Lab User Interface Tour", "summary": "Welcome to this week’s campaign update! In this one, we share some insights into the user interface of the Air Lab. Let’s dive in!", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/7ec6aff4-3aab-4060-b19e-0a72432218f6", "date_modified": "2025-05-09T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/hardware-details", "content_html": "Selecting the components for the Air Lab was not an easy task. We strived to find a good balance between components that are easy to use, high quality and power efficient. Also, it was important for us to add a variety of support components that allow extensibility and rich human interfaces.
The Air Lab’s sensors are all located at the top rim behind the Logo on the front face. This area is well isolated from the rest of the board and ensures that components with heat dissipation do not interfere with the sensor readings.
To measure the various aspects of air quality we rely on the following set of sensors:
We chose CO₂ and as the primary air quality indicator as it is useful in most indoor environments. The SCD41’s NDIR (Non-Dispersive Infrared) technology to measure CO₂ offers excellent long-term stability, is immune to environmental contaminants, and maintains a high accuracy without requiring frequent recalibration (exposure to outdoor air).
The SGP41 detects additional important and highly damaging air pollutants that should be avoided. The form of the sensing technology used, does not support absolute readings and instead provided an indexed value that correlates with a rise an fall in pollutant detection.
Finally, we added the LPS22 sensor to support correlation of air quality with weather changes. This may be useful for environments with strong air pollution that affects indoor environments differently depending on the weather.
If you want to know more about the differences between CO2 sensor technologies, check out this blog post that does, and excellent job in comparing them.
At the heart of the Air Lab is the ESP32-S3 microcontroller and its support circuitry. We decided to go with an ESP32 mainly because of its wide adoption in the community. Even though other microcontrollers like Nordic’s would be more power efficient, it was important to us that programming for the Air Lab is as easy as possible. The “ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8” module selected for the Air Lab comes with 8 MB of additional PSRAM for graphics and 16 MB built-in flash storage to give enough headroom for future firmware features.
Next to the microcontroller, we use the following supporting ICs:
We knew early on that we wanted to use an E-Paper display, as they are perfect for such a device that displays information updated at a regular schedule. Furthermore, the recent E-Paper displays support partial update mode that even allow the use of simple animations. The Air Lab uses a standard 2.9” E-Paper display that is available in many stores should it ever need a repair.
We’re particularly proud of the Air Lab’s user input elements. Especially, the touch bar is a great interface element that counter-intuitively is able to hide the latency of the E-Paper display very well. It is accompanied by 6 standard SMD buttons that have a nice click feeling and help navigating the menus.
To measure the touch-bar’s seven touch-points, we added a CY8CMBR3108 capacitive touch controller. This controller may be a bit over-specified for such a device, but once we started to work with it and ran out of pins anyway, we couldn’t miss its features. The controller offers a sensing algorithm that is far superior to one built-into to ESP32 while also being very power efficient.
On top of that, we also added an RGB LED that is driven by a separate controller. The LED is reverse-mounted and shines through the PCBs epoxy core on the top silkscreen layer. Almost next to it is also a piezo buzzer that is used for the click-feedback and playing alert notifications.
We hope you gained some insight into the component selection process of the Air Lab. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks. If you have not yet backed the project, we would very much welcome your support.
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/hardware-details
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/hardware-details", "title": "Hardware Details!", "summary": "Hi there! In this campaign update, we want to share more details of the Air Labs’ hardware.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/93be4ced-4a5f-40af-9326-ed1903c28410", "date_modified": "2025-05-01T10:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/our-campaign-is-now-live", "content_html": "In the past months, we added many great features to the Air Lab. Watch our product update video below to get an overview of what has happened, or just read on.
We added an atmospheric pressure sensor, updated the PCB-based construction with a new metal bracket to hold the display in place, and added a debug and extension port at the back. The debug port allows connecting a standard ESP32 programmer like the ESP-PROG directly with jumper wires.
_tzjVYPm_MU
At the extension port, we exposed the system voltages, the internal I2C-bus, and two unused GPIOs. This allows you to connect other sensors and components to the Air Lab without needing to open up the device. This way, as shown in the video, a SEN55 particulate matter sensor can be connected to the Air Lab almost directly.
It’s a minor detail, but we also upgraded the flex cable with a connector to support standard E-paper displays. This allows easy repair if the screen should ever get damaged.
The firmware now stores up to six hours of samples in memory, which can be explored any time by going into the live view. When starting a new measurement, the past history can now also be imported. With this feature, you can always see how the air quality around you has changed in the past hours.
On the device, measurements are stored as binary files to preserve storage space. But, this does not mean that a separate conversion tool is needed, as measurements can now be exported as CSV files directly on the device. Together with the USB-Mode, data can now be moved quickly to your computer.
In the video, we also show a sneak peek of the upcoming “Air Lab Studio”, our application to access and configure the Air Lab. With it, you can connect to your Air Lab wirelessly and read the current sample history as well as any stored measurement. Furthermore, you can configure advanced features like the MQTT client to connect to a broker over Wi-Fi to publish real-time data. On top of that, we already support a basic Home Assistant integration. We’ll go into the specifics of this in a future campaign update.
Stay tuned for more updates during the campaign. We’ll be sharing more technical details on software and hardware, as well as give you an introduction to more of Air Labs features. See you next week!
This article was originally published at: https://www.crowdsupply.com/networked-artifacts/air-lab/updates/our-campaign-is-now-live
", "url": "https://networkedartifacts.com/signal/our-campaign-is-now-live", "title": "Our Campaign is Now Live!", "summary": "We’re excited to announce that the Air Lab crowdfunding campaign is now live! Check out the updated campaign page for your portable and playful air quality measuring device.", "image": "https://cms.networkedartifacts.com/content/file/43b87bd1-970b-45bd-a3cf-68677f89ab59", "date_modified": "2025-04-25T10:00:00.000Z" } ] }