During the Wildfires here in California back a few years ago, I bought a portable air quailty meter and Blue Air air purifier. I performed some basic experiments and was quite surprised. I also did research into the Paradise fire, at the cause, cleanup, government, industry, and human reaction. I did reseach into what happened in the insurance industry, goverment response, and more into Califire capabilities, equipment and personal. Also California geography, biology in animals and humans, and the content of wildfire smoke, which is actually complex. This gave me a wholistic view which I will use for my solution. It is very unlikely I will be able to create an affordable viable product. I will pursue those who this is a priority for free or low cost, and use it for social media style education and outreach.
I was able to a get an integrated LCD, Arduino and the particle sensor working. The Class for the LCD, and particle sensor is too large for a small Arduino. When I tried to pare it down, it failed to work. After an hour of debugging the answer was not obvious. I will contact the manufacturers for a C library and use an ARM microcntroller. But this can be significant work and time. Arduinos, although well documented, are best for one or two things before resource conflicts, like timers. I can use a more powerful Arduino, but then the cost is higher. I found a Raspberry Pis to somewhat sensitive to voltage ripple, and also hard to diagnose remotely. I prefer to go custom early, before I reach a rathole of too many unknowns. Many people more talented with Arduinos and Raspberry Pi's, and can do amazing things I haven't mastered. But I make real products for a living, and customers open the case, no matter what you do or say. Even if it works flawlessy for a year, they don't like it and say it not "real" engineering and a toy.