Iot Based Air Quality Monitoring System
SaqibEjaz
Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering COMSATS University
Islamabad Pakistan
Saqibejaz2001@gmail.com
Muhammad Sami
Department of Electrical and Computer
Enginerring COMSATS University
Islamabad Pakistan
Abstract— In today's world, the increase in vehicle numbers
and industrialization has led to a significant rise in air pollution,
posing a serious threat to our well-being. This project focuses on
the development and implementation of an Air Quality
Monitoring System, utilizing the concept of Internet of Things
(IoT). The aim of this project is to explore the potential of IoT
technology in addressing the growing concern of environmental
health risks. The Arduino microcontroller board serves as the
project's implementation's base. The goal is to build an Internet
of Things (IoT)-based Air Quality Monitors that can identify
when dangerous chemicals like CO and NO are present in the
air and buzz or warn when they do. This device can detect
temperature and humidity in addition to dangerous gases using
a temperature and humidity sensor. The NodeMCU receives
sensor data, which is then displayed on any cloud platform that
may be used to analyses the local air quality. The technology
ensures simple accessibility and monitoring by providing realtime monitoring of the environment in terms of Particles Per
Million (PPM) and displaying the results on both an LCD panel
and a web page.
Syed Abdul Mannan Kirmani
Department of Electrical and Computer
Enginerring COMSATS University
Islamabad Pakistan
how dirty the air is. The higher the number, the more
pollution there is and the bigger the health concerns. Let's
take an AQI value of 50 as an example. That means the air
quality is good and you don't have to worry much about your
health, while a value exceeding 300 signifies extremely
hazardous air quality that can pose serious health effects to
everyone. The purpose of the AQI is to provide individuals
with a clear understanding of how local air quality can impact
their health.
Keywords—Air Pollution, Health Risks, IOT, AQI, AQI
Detection, LCD Display, Smartphone Connectivity.
I. INTRODUCTION
Air pollution is on the rise due to the emission of harmful
gases by industries and vehicles, as well as the increased
concentration of toxic substances in the atmosphere. The rapid
increase in pollution is primarily caused by factors such as
industrial activities, urbanization, population growth, and
higher vehicle usage, all of which have negative impacts on
human health. Particulate matter, a significant contributor to
air pollution, requires continuous monitoring and analysis to
enable timely decision-making.
To address this issue, we propose the development of a realtime, standalone air monitoring system. Leveraging the
Internet of Things (IoT), which is widely utilized across
various sectors, we integrate IoT technology into our air
monitoring system. The system will display air measurements
in parts per million (PPM) on a web page, allowing for
convenient remote monitoring using computers or mobile
devices. By implementing this IoT project, individuals can
easily monitor pollution levels from any location.
II. BACKGROUND
A. AQI
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a measure used to report the
daily air quality status. It provides information on the
cleanliness or harmfulness of the air and highlights potential
health effects that people may experience in the short term
after inhaling polluted air. The AQI is all about checking out
four major air pollutants: ground-level ozone, particle
pollution, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide. These
pollutants are under the watchful eye of the Clean Air Act.
To make it simple, there's a scale from 0 to 500 that tells us
B. AQI Catogories
To enhance comprehension, the AQI is categorized into six
levels that indicate different levels of health risks:
Good: AQI value for specific region ranges from 0 to 50,
indicating satisfactory air quality with minimal health risks.
Moderate: With an AQI between 51 and 100, the air quality
is considered acceptable. However, individuals who are
particularly sensitive to ozone or particle pollution may
experience mild respiratory symptoms.
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups: When AQI values fall
between 101 and 150, members of vulnerable populations
may encounter health effects, while the public is unlikely to
be significantly impacted.
Unhealthy: AQI values ranging from 151 to 200 signal that
everyone may experience health effects, with sensitive
groups being more susceptible to severe impacts.
Very Unhealthy: Health alerts are triggered when AQI values
range from 201 to 300, indicating that the entire population
may encounter more severe health effects.
Hazardous: When AQI values exceed 300, health warnings
are issued due to emergency conditions, and the entire
population is at a higher risk of experiencing serious health
effects.
C. Air Quality Parameters
The proposed framework considers several significant
parameters, including:
Carbon Dioxide (CO2): CO2 is an odorless, colorless, and
non-combustible gas. It belongs to the category of asphyxiant
gases that can hinder the availability of oxygen to body
tissues. CO2 is essential for life on Earth as it plays a crucial
role in the photosynthesis process, converting solar energy
into chemical energy. The concentration of CO2 has
increased primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, leading
to accelerated plant growth. However, this rapid growth of
undesired plants necessitates the use of chemicals for their
elimination.
Smoke: Tobacco smoking affects approximately 1 million
people globally, with a majority in developing countries.
According to a 2007 report, smoking causes nearly 4.9
million deaths annually. Additionally, second-hand smoke
poses a serious health threat to people of all ages, resulting in
41,000 deaths each year.
Temperature and Humidity: Temperature plays a crucial role
in ensuring people's safety and affects various aspects of our
lives. Analyzing temperature changes from historical data to
the present, especially since the industrial revolution, allows
us to observe the greenhouse effect. Humidity, a type of gas,
acts as a shield against harmful UV rays from the sun and
helps regulate heat on Earth, creating a pleasant climate for
living. However, increased humidity leads to elevated
warmth on Earth, causing discomfort. Humidity is also
important for various storage and food processing facilities.
III. PROPOSED DESIGN
The research encompasses a comprehensive investigation
into the calibration techniques for sensors, enabling precise
measurements of gas concentrations in the ambient air.
Moreover, the study includes the development of a robust
methodology for calculating the Air Quality Index (AQI) in
the designated area where the system is deployed. The
resulting AQI data is then presented through a user-friendly
web interface and a dedicated mobile application, ensuring
accessibility and dissemination of vital air quality
information to the public. This endeavor represents a
significant step towards providing accurate and reliable air
quality monitoring, contributing to informed decisionmaking, and enhancing environmental awareness within the
community.
A. Purpose
In this ground-breaking initiative, we use readily accessible
gas sensors to develop a state-of-the-art wireless monitoring
system. Carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2),
ozone (O3), and other harmful pollutants may be monitored
and analyzed in real time when all of these sensors work
together.
Our technology stands out because of its capacity to provide
people with a bird's-eye perspective of pollution levels
through a simple wireless interface. Users can quickly and
easily access and visualize the data, giving them the edge,
they need to make well-informed choices regarding their
immediate surroundings.
Our system was designed with ease-of-use, affordability, and
dependability in mind, making it applicable for gas level
monitoring in any environment. Our wireless monitoring
device provides unrivalled ease of use and peace of mind for
checking the quality of air in homes, businesses, and public
areas. It's a major step forward since it streamlines pollution
monitoring and control by integrating state-of-the-art sensor
technology with simple wireless communication.
IV. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
This section provides a detailed overview of the various
stages involved in the development of the system including
how is the AQI calculated along with the components of the
designed system.
1) Calculating AQI
The AQI is the highest value calculated for each pollutant.
Identify the highest concentration among all the monitors
within each reporting area. The formula which we used has
been set by the American health department (EPA) and is set
as the benchmark for measuring the AQI of an area.
Formula Used:
IP = ((IHi -ILo)/ (BPHi -BPLo)) *(Cp- BPLo) + ILo
Where, Ip = the index for pollutant p
Cp = the truncated concentration of pollutant p
BPHI = concentration BP that is greater than or equal to Cp
BPLO =concentration BP that is less than or equal to Cp
IHI = the AQI value corresponding to BPHI
ILO = the AQI value corresponding to BPLO
2) Our designed system
In our proposed system we have many used carbon monoxide
and ozone as the main gases by using MQ-7 and MQ-9
sensors respectively as AQI is the calculation of highest
pollutants of the gases.
3) CO detection
Since even trace amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) might be
harmful, we have decided to account for it in our system.
When excessive amounts of CO build in the circulation, they
displace oxygen in the red blood cells, causing carbon
monoxide poisoning. This may cause irreparable harm to
tissues or possibly cause death. Carbon monoxide is special
in that it cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted; thus, it must be
detected by constant monitoring. Combustion of fuels
including gasoline, wood, propane, charcoal, and other
combustibles is the primary source of CO emissions.
Since CO poses such a high danger to human health at such a
low concentration, it is given top billing in our system. At
levels as low as 10 parts per million (ppm), carbon monoxide
may be very dangerous to human health, whereas other gases
may be tolerated at levels of 100 to 200 ppm. Our system's
primary function is to detect elevated levels of carbon
monoxide and provide warnings to users so that they may
take the appropriate safety measures and reduce their risk of
carbon monoxide poisoning.
4) Ozone (O3) Detection
The MQ-9 gas sensor is utilized to measure ozone gas levels.
Like the MQ-7 sensor, the MQ-9 provides an analog output
proportional to the concentration of ozone.
5) System Setup
We measured atmospheric gas concentration using an
Arduino microcontroller and three sensors. Every detector is
tuned to pick up on a different set of gases. The sensor simply
outputs a single analogue voltage.
The ESP8266 was combined with Arduino to get network
connection and access to the web. Our Arduino-based system
can now be monitored and controlled through Wi-Fi from
anywhere.
6) Results
V. COMPONENTS
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Hardware Components:
Arduino Uno R3
NodeMCU ESP-8266
DHT-22 Sensor
MQ-135 Gas Sensor
MQ-9 Gas Sensor
MQ-7 Gas Sensor
Breadboard
16 Channel Analog Multiplexer
Jumper Wires
16*2 LCD Display
7- Segment LED
Buzzer
Potentiometer
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Software Components:
Think Speak Cloud
Arduino IDE
Blynk IoT
VI. CONCLUSION
The purpose of this research was to design an IoT-based
system for monitoring indoor air quality using components
such as the Arduino Uno R3, the NodeMCU ESP8266, and
many different types of gas sensors (including the MQ-9 and
MQ-135). In addition, we took readings of temperature and
humidity with the help of the DHT-22 sensor. The goals were
met, and the system's ability to monitor air quality in a variety
of climates was shown. Users have easy access to real-time
data and could monitor air quality from afar thanks to the
combination of online and mobile apps.
The success of this project's air quality monitoring system
is confirmed by the data collected. The gas sensors performed
well, detecting, and measuring target gases rapidly and
precisely. Air quality data was enriched with additional
context from measurements of temperature and humidity. The
technology shown in this study has the capacity to monitor air
quality metrics precisely and in real time. Environmental
studies, public health campaigns, and policy making might all
benefit greatly from its implementation. Researchers and
stakeholders can make the world a better place for future
generations by constantly improving and growing this
initiative.
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Presented at the 2016 INDIA.Com International Conference
on Computing
for Sustainable Global Development
URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7724815