Chapter 13 - The role of IoT in smart cities: Challenges of air quality mass sensor technology for sustainable solutions

Abstract

Holistic management of air quality in cities is crucial to set a reasonable standard of living for its citizens. With the growing number of large cities across the world, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that holds the promise to make cities smart and sustainable. A primary objective of a smart and sustainable city is to ensure urban air quality is clean and sustainably managed for future generations. Current regulation-based ambient air quality monitoring technology in urban environments involves sparsely distributed bulky and expensive equipment, which requires continuous calibration and maintenance. IoT devices can help measure, monitor, and abet the impact of poor air quality. This is so because of the ubiquitous nature of the devices, available connectivity in smart cities, and opportunities to analyze data within reasonable time to take corrective actions. This chapter discusses various aspects of air quality monitoring for smart cities capitalizing on IoT devices. Starting with a discussion on the background of air quality monitoring in the context of smart cities, this chapter outlines the challenges and the various ways in which IoT and Cloud-based applications can work together to overcome those challenges. Overall, this chapter proposes a three-tiered approach for effectively applying data to achieve better urban air quality. The first tier is a practical approach, the second tier is a strategic approach, and the third and final tier is a legislative approach.