A Low-cost IoT System for Environmental Pollution Monitoring in Developing Countries

Abstract

Air pollution is an important risk factor for human health, especially in urban areas. In El Salvador, there are only three air quality monitoring stations to cover the entire territory of the country. This paper aims to apply Internet of Things (IoT) techniques to design and built a telemetric station for monitoring contamination by particulate matter (PM) in the surrounding environment. The development of this project was based on the IoT Architectural Reference Model: An Esp32 controller as the electronic hardware and Google Suite as IoT platform were used. The main result was an IoT prototype for the measurement of contamination by PM2.5 and PM10 pollutants, which data are accessible from any device with internet access through a website. The developed prototype will be placed in remote stations of the country in order to verify its performance and long-term validation. The new scientific knowledge developed consists of the results obtained from the comparison of the measurements of devices certified by EPA and low-cost electronic sensors, demonstrating their potential in the implementation of new and innovative techniques for the use of hardware and software components are shown in internet of things projects. This knowledge can be applied in fast developments of low-cost and efficient prototypes.