Design of a Low-cost Air Quality Remote Monitoring System based on IOT and Sensor Sensitivity Validation

Abstract

The monitoring of air pollutants levels in urban environments is of vital importance due to their potential negative effects on human health. In particular, high ambient concentrations of particulate matter (PM) have been associated with high occurrence of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Current air quality monitoring systems provide high quality data but with limited spatial coverage. Low-cost sensors represent a potential tool to increase spatial and temporal measurements coverage by complementing the existing networks. Furthermore, the remote access to real-time data may allow to obtain detailed information relevant for instance, for protecting vulnerable populations health. This paper describes a portable PM monitoring system with remote access via IoT. The proposed system is based on low-cost sensors of the Plantower type with Internet access via WiFi through the ESP32 microcontroller. We describe a methodology to fit the PM sensor with wireless access to store the acquired information in databases located on both local and external servers using an open-source code. Statistical tests conducted for preliminary monitoring data are also described to verify the PM sensors accuracy and performance.