Development of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Monitoring Drone System

Abstract

Currently, the predominant methodology for assessing air quality in Thailand entails the deployment of air quality monitoring stations. In particular, EGAT's power facilities presently employ such stations for air quality assessment. The use of drones for air quality measurements reduces the variability of measurements and can determine the primary source of the air pollution. Therefore, the air quality monitoring system by unmanned aerial vehicles or drones will be a guideline that can be used to effectively reduce the time and cost of air quality monitoring in and around EGAT's power plants. The objective of this endeavor is to engineer a drone system integrated with specialized sensors for the purpose of real-time monitoring and data acquisition of air quality parameters, with results seamlessly relayed to an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. Applying drone is successful to implement air quality monitoring which parameters are PM2.5 and PM10. This drone can monitor particulate matter at both PM2.5 and PM10 concentration while this monitoring data is recorded and sent to an IOT platform, called Things.egat.co.th platform. In this experiment, the result shows that the air quality data from drone is comparable with the data of EGAT’s air quality mobile station. The results of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration were real-time displayed in the dashboard as graphs. This graphical interface facilitates comparisons over time, accessible via mobile phones or computers with uninterrupted internet connectivity. The average relative errors for PM concentrations measured by the cost-effective air quality monitoring drone systems stand at 7%, signifying a reliable means for monitoring particulate matter within an atmospheric context. It is therefore, established that this advancement in drone technology for Air Quality Monitoring attains the status of low-cost prototype of particulate matter monitoring drone system tailored for EGAT.