Intelligent Environmental Protection Pollution Source Monitoring: How Industrial Fanless PC Break Through the Dilemma with 4G/5G Wireless Transmission and Edge Computing

In a chemical industrial park along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, at 2 a.m., the monitoring screen suddenly flashed a glaring red light—the methane concentration at a company's drainage outlet exceeded the standard by 300%. However, by the time environmental law enforcement officers drove 20 kilometers to the scene, the over-standard data had returned to normal, and the company's person in charge insisted it was a "false alarm from the equipment." Such scenarios play out across the country every day. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in 2025, 62% of environmental violation cases nationwide were suspected of data fraud. Traditional monitoring systems, due to their delayed response and lack of an evidence chain, have left law enforcement departments trapped in a triple dilemma of "difficulty in detection, evidence collection, and accountability."

1. Three Fatal Flaws of Traditional Monitoring Systems

1.1 Data Silos: The Fatal Blind Spot of 24-Hour Delays

A steel company installed 12 sets of online monitoring equipment. Due to the wired transmission and centralized cloud processing model, data had to pass through four stages—from "sensors → PLC → industrial control computer → environmental protection bureau server"—before reaching the environmental protection department, with an average delay of 23 minutes. In March 2025, when the company's desulfurization tower malfunctioned, sulfur dioxide emissions exceeded the standard by eight times. However, the system did not trigger an alarm until 1 hour and 47 minutes after the over-standard emissions began, by which time the pollutants had already spread 3 kilometers downstream.

1.2 Fragile Evidence: Tamperable "Digital Handles"

Traditional monitoring equipment often relies on local storage with periodic manual copying. An engineer from an environmental protection technology company revealed, "You can clear historical data simply by short-circuiting the storage chip pins with a metal probe." More alarmingly, 78% of the equipment uses plaintext transmission protocols, allowing hackers to tamper with data packets in transit by spoofing base stations. In a 2025 case involving a printing and dyeing factory in Zhejiang, criminals exploited this vulnerability to alter COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) data from 1,200 mg/L to 80 mg/L, evading supervision for nine months.

1.3 Operational and Maintenance Dilemmas: The "Data Babysitter" Costing 2 Million Yuan Annually

A provincial environmental protection monitoring station overseeing 327 monitoring points invests 1.98 million yuan annually in equipment maintenance, including:

• A 4G module failure rate as high as 37%, with single repair costs exceeding 5,000 yuan
• Solar power systems lasting less than 8 hours in winter
• Monthly manual inspections consuming 120 work hours, yet still resulting in a 15% data loss rate
  This "heavy construction, light maintenance" model leaves 30% of monitoring equipment nationwide operating in a "sub-healthy" state.

2. 4G/5G + Edge Computing: Reconstructing the Monitoring Technology Paradigm

2.1 Millisecond-Level Response: From "Post-Event Accountability" to "Pre-Event Interception"

The edge computing architecture embedded in the USR-EG628 Industrial Fanless PC shifts data processing to the device level. In a pilot project at a petrochemical company, the system achieved:

• Local preprocessing time for gas sensor data: <50 ms
• Abnormal data recognition algorithm cycle: <200 ms
• 4G/5G dual-link redundant transmission latency: <1.5 s
  When VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) concentrations exceeded thresholds, the system encrypted and uploaded data within 0.8 seconds while triggering local audible-visual alarms and spray devices, containing leakage impacts within a 5-meter radius.

2.2 Blockchain Evidence Storage: Creating an "Untamperable" Evidence Chain

By integrating the national cryptographic SM4 algorithm and blockchain technology, the USR-EG628 ensures full-process encryption of monitoring data from "collection → transmission → storage." In a steel company application:

• Each data packet includes timestamps, device fingerprints, and digital signatures
• Data is automatically chained to the environmental protection department's regulatory platform
• Tamper detection accuracy reaches 99.999%
  This technical solution, certified by the Ministry of Public Security's Information Security Grade Protection Level III, served as key evidence in a 2025 data fraud case involving a chemical company in Jiangsu.

2.3 Intelligent Operations and Maintenance: Letting Equipment "Speak for Itself"

The USR-EG628's built-in predictive maintenance module analyzes equipment operation data to achieve:

• 4G module failure prediction accuracy: 89%
• Solar panel efficiency decay warnings issued 45 days in advance
• Automatic calibration of sensor drift
  In an application at a coal mine in Inner Mongolia, the system predicted a methane sensor failure 72 hours in advance, automatically switching to a backup sensor and avoiding a safety incident caused by data interruption. Operational costs decreased by 63% compared to traditional models, while equipment utilization rose to 92%.

EG628

Linux OSFlexibly ExpandRich Interface

3. USR-EG628: An Industrial Fanless PC Designed Specifically for Environmental Protection Scenarios

3.1 Robust Performance: Meeting Extreme Environmental Challenges

• Industrial-grade protection: IP67 rating, operating temperature range of -40°C to 85°C, and electromagnetic interference resistance three times the IEC 61000-4-6 standard
• Long-lasting power: Supports dual power supply (solar + mains), enabling 180 days of continuous operation under 4 hours of daily sunlight
• Reliable communication: Quad-mode redundancy (4G/5G/Wi-Fi/Ethernet) maintains 98% data transmission success rates even in signal-dead zones like underground pipelines

3.2 Intelligent Core: Enabling Equipment to "Think"

• Edge AI computing power: Built-in 1 TOPS NPU supports edge computing tasks like image recognition and voice analysis
• Open ecosystem: Runs Linux Ubuntu, compatible with 100+ industrial protocols, and supports secondary development via Docker and Node-RED
• Local configuration: Completes the full data collection-processing-display workflow in three steps without specialized programming skills

3.3 Scenario-Based Adaptation: From Single Monitoring to Systemic Solutions

• Industrial drainage outlets: Integrates VOCs sensors + video surveillance, automatically capturing and chaining evidence when standards are exceeded
• Hazardous waste treatment: Implements full-process traceability of hazardous waste transport via UWB positioning + electronic fencing
• Agricultural non-point source pollution: Constructs nitrogen-phosphorus loss warning models by combining soil moisture sensors
  In a pilot project at an agricultural park, the system analyzed soil EC values and rainfall to predict non-point source pollution risks 48 hours in advance, guiding farmers to adjust fertilization plans and reducing COD concentrations in farmland runoff by 41%.

4. From Devices to Ecosystems: The Evolutionary Path of Intelligent Environmental Protection

4.1 Data Governance: Building an "Space-Air-Ground" Integrated Monitoring Network

Combining satellite remote sensing, drone inspections, and ground-based monitoring equipment, the USR-EG628 supports:

• Multi-source data fusion analysis, improving pollution source tracing accuracy to 10-meter resolution
• Dynamic updates of pollution source inventories for "one-enterprise, one-policy" precision management
• Cross-regional data sharing to resolve governance dilemmas like "upstream pollution affecting downstream areas"

4.2 Carbon Management: Monetizing Monitoring Data

By integrating carbon emission accounting models, the system automatically generates:

• Corporate carbon footprint reports to facilitate participation in carbon trading markets
• Regional carbon sink monitoring to provide evidence for ecological compensation
• Energy-saving and emission-reduction recommendations to lower corporate energy costs
  After adopting the system, a cement company reduced annual carbon quota purchases by 2.3 million yuan while securing 120 million yuan in green loans through carbon asset pledges.

4.3 Public Participation: Creating a "Transparent Environmental Protection" Paradigm

Through open API interfaces, the system supports:

• Real-time data push to government environmental websites and mobile apps
• Intelligent correlation of public complaints with monitoring data
• Dynamic updates of environmental credit scores
  In a Shenzhen community pilot, residents' enthusiasm for environmental supervision tripled after scanning codes to view nearby corporate pollution data, while corporate non-compliant emissions decreased by 76%.