System Design, Automatic Data Collection Framework and Embedded Software Development of Internet of Things (IoT) for Air Pollution Monitoring of Nagpur Metropolis

In the era of smart computing, edge computing, and machine intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) is playing a greater role in establishing hyper connective, cost-effective infrastructure for monitoring the environment. With the increase in the level of urbanization and population density in very fast-growing cities like Nagpur, the increase in air pollution needs to be monitored. This requires a network of Pollution monitoring systems for carrying out spatio-temporal analysis of pollution in the city on a real-time basis. Such established networks can be a key to understand the sources of pollution under various city conditions. To monitor and manage air pollutants, it is essential to put in place monitoring stations at multiple places. Although commercial pollution monitoring stations exist, they are limited in number. In this study, an attempt has been made to develop and implement a network of IoT devices using cost effective Metal Oxide Semiconductor based gas sensors integrated with ATMEGA 328P Microcontroller. Commercial systems are found to be space, energy and cost expensive. The developed pollution monitoring system can be replicated easily since they are compact in size, cost-effective, network and energy independent. This study discusses the development and implementation of a network of 10 smart IoT sensors in the Nagpur metropolis. The developed smart air pollution monitoring system combines IoT technology with real-time pollution monitoring systems. It measures and monitors temperature, humidity and pollutant concentration of Carbon Monoxide, Ozone, Carbon Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide and PM2.5 and Nitrous oxides simultaneously. The study envisages to support Sustainable Development Goals – SDG11 which aims to reduce the environmental impact of cities by improving air quality.