Air-MIT: Air Quality Monitoring Using Internet of Things

Abstract

In both developed and developing countries, air pollution is increasing daily, compromising the air quality index and causing harm to everyone. Some of the reasons for this rapid increase in air pollution include the growing population, rising number of industries, rapid urbanization, and excessive use of fuel-consuming transportation. Hence, there is an ever-increasing need to monitor air quality using an energy-efficient, ubiquitous and connected manner. In this paper, we are presenting the design, working, and results of our device named Air-MIT, which is an air quality monitoring device, which uses the Internet of Things (IoT) to populate and upload data securely to the cloud server. We have developed a low-cost IoT-based air monitoring system capable of detecting carbon dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), methane gas (CH4), Ammonium (NH4), with the provision of adding more sensors capable of detecting other harmful gases and particulates in the air as well. The system has been designed to monitor indoor air quality in real-time and to trigger an alarm if any one of the readings crosses the predefined threshold. The device also has the provision of turning on the exhaust fan in the house or kitchen to clear out the air and ventilate the space to minimize the exposure of harmful gases, resulting in avoidance of any accidents or fires.