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ED builds aira's open-source air monitors and air cleaners in Montenegro, for Montenegrin classrooms.
ED
ED is the technical backbone of aira. It designs, tests and manufactures open-source air-quality monitors and air cleaners made for classrooms. The goal is that every school in Montenegro runs on devices engineered, manufactured and maintained in the country, and that Montenegrin engineers hold the skills to keep improving them.
ED works in stages, and each stage builds on the one before. Two engineering teams run in parallel: one builds on AirGradient's open-source hardware and firmware to deliver reliable, classroom-ready monitors, while the other experiments with new sensors, device architectures, cryptography and AI features. This keeps ED innovating while always having a working, trusted device in the classroom.
Open-source indoor air-quality monitors give each classroom real-time data. They begin with AirGradient's proven open-source platform and evolve into a certified Montenegrin design, shaped by what the infrastructure assessments find in real classrooms, from connectivity and power reliability to sensor placement. Each design moves step by step from prototype through validation testing and certification to serial production.
Once monitoring shows where help is needed, ED develops air cleaners. Classroom data decides where they go and what kind is needed, so each one is matched to its classroom's ventilation, occupancy and pollution profile instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach.
Devices roll out municipality by municipality until every classroom is covered and connected to a single national system, with data hosted in Montenegro.
ED transfers the knowledge, not only the devices. Its local engineering team, Nikola Žarić, Allie Zhang, Trifun Savić, Nikola Pavlićević and Vuk Đukanović, works with international experts through tech-transfer workshops, while hackathons with university students and student engineers on the team make sure the know-how stays in Montenegro.
The Foundation
ED builds on the open-source foundations of AirGradient and the guidance of international experts, including Mark Hernandez of the University of Colorado Boulder and Aaron Collins. The Ethereum Foundation advises on data and cryptography, and the University of Montenegro (UCG) and the University of Donja Gorica (UDG) provide the local academic capacity to receive the technology transfer.
Open-source hardware foundations
International engineering experts
Data & cryptography guidance
Local academic capacity
Where we're headed
A fully functional Montenegrin open-source monitor prototype, followed by certification and serial production.
Monitors go into every school in Pljevlja, with air cleaners following where the data shows they are needed.
A municipality-by-municipality rollout until every classroom is covered - with designs and documentation open throughout.
In October 2026, the Education and Workshops (EDU) workstream of the aira Indoor Air Quality Education Program carried out its first round of educational site visits, reaching three schools across Montenegro: Private Gymnasium in Podgorica, Primary School “Drago Milović” in Tivat, and Primary School “Mile Peruničić” and its branch unit in Pljevlja.
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And a community to carry it - proven first in Pljevlja, documented in a handbook any country can adopt.
