=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3402/paper11
|storemode=property
|title=The use of smart devices (IOT) to monitor the air quality: a case study at the Faculty of Natural Sciences
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3402/paper11.pdf
|volume=Vol-3402
|authors=Ilma Lili,Anxhela Kosta,Endrit Xhina
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/rtacsit/LiliKX23
}}
==The use of smart devices (IOT) to monitor the air quality: a case study at the Faculty of Natural Sciences==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3402/paper11.pdf
The use of smart devices (IOT) to monitor the air quality: a case
study at the Faculty of Natural Sciences
Ilma Lili 1, Anxhela Kosta 1 and Endri Xhina 1
1
University of Tirana, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bulevardi Zogu I, Tirana, 1001, Albania
Abstract
A city is "smart" if it uses different types of sensors and devices to collect data and provide
information that is used to efficiently manage resources. The data can be processed and
analyzed in order to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems, waste recycling,
water supply networks, air pollution, and other public services. The use of sensors would enable
the collection of these data and their transfer in real time to the users. Based on the information
provided online by a Swiss company called IQAir, it appears that Tirana has significant air
pollution. Through a web application we could enable the possibility to receive and display data
from the sensors and send them to a database so we can use them in different situations. In this
paper we will show the use of the Internet of Things (IOT) to monitor pollution levels,
especially levels in many positions in the Faculty of Natural Science where the number of
students can be considered high. The aim of this paper has a correlation with people heath
especially for this case study is students’ health. It serves for more detailed studies or evaluate
whose are the element causing the greatest air pollution and a prediction of what measures
should be taken to prevent it. Creating a suitable environment to make this information to be
detailed in real-time of course will affect other fields and aspects of researchers in the future.
Keywords 1
Air pollution, IOT and Smart devices, IQAir, Particular Matter, Arduino
1. Introduction World Health Organization (WHO) estimated
that, in the year 2012, ambient air pollution was
responsible for nearly seven million deaths,
Air pollution is the greatest
representing more than 10% of all-cause deaths
environmental threat to public health globally and
and more than doubling previous estimates
accounts for an estimated 7 million premature
[2]. Based on this information we thought about
deaths every year. In 2019, 99% of the world
what to do to identify air pollution sources—
population was living in places where the WHO’s
where it’s coming from and who’s responsible.
strictest 2021 air quality guideline levels were not
Since we are in the age of technology we can
met. Air pollution is the presence of extra
improve and can monitor air quality using smart
unwanted biological molecules, particulates or
devices called IOT.
other harmful things into the earth's
atmosphere. It is a major cause of infections, Advanced technological tools such as artificial
allergies, and eventually reasons of death to some intelligence (AI), machine learning, blockchain
people [1]. technology, IoT, and geographic information
The air problem is something that should systems are some of the powerful tools that help
not be neglected but more thought should be given humanity to effectively address climate goals and
to ensure a healthy future for the population. The
Proceedings of RTA-CSIT 2023, April 26–27, 2023 Tirana,
Albania
EMAIL: ilma.lili@fshn.edu.al (A. 1); anxhela.kosta@fshn.edu.al
(A. 2); endri.xhina@fshn.edu.al (A. 3)
ORCID: 0000-0001-9389-6894 (A. 1); 0000-0003-3751-5641 (A.
2);
©️ 2023 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative
Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
have a better picture of the actual air quality In this paper we will show the use of the
situation [3]. Internet of Things (IOT) to monitor pollution
levels, especially at different points inside the
It is important to analyze the relationship buildings accompanied by different volumes of
between student activities and PM2.5 in the students at the Faculty of Natural Science. The
classroom to provide guidance for air quality aim of this paper is directly related to the health of
improvement. However, modeling and predicting the students. It serves for more detailed studies of
PM2.5 in classrooms remains a challenging which elements causes the greatest air pollution
problem. Previous studies have mainly and a prediction of what measures should be taken
concentrated on residential or uninhabited rooms to prevent it. Also, we will show a comparison
without large-scale crowd conditions and between IQ Air devices with Arduino which is the
analyzed issues such as temperature, humidity, best for monitoring air quality. This
and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations. Limited demonstration creates the suitable environment
studies have focused on quantifying the effect of for this information to be detailed and used in
student activities on PM2.5 in classrooms.[4] other fields and aspects of research in the future.
Below, two graphs show the level of the
PM2.5 parameter in outdoor environments near 2. Air pollution challenges
the Faculty of Natural Sciences. These results
belong to three consecutive days of March 2023 Air pollution is one of the main environmental
respectively by hours and days. The data is problems in major Albanian cities, especially in
obtained from the website IQair [5] via the Tirana. The pollution has come as a result of the
published station with longitude 41° north and increase in cars, the reduction of urban greenery,
latitude 19° east at 150 m distance from the the burning of garbage, the economic activities of
buildings of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. enterprises, the use of low-quality fuels, etc. The
concentration of PM10 and NO2 particles in
Tirana exceeds the national standards and those of
the World Health Organization [6]. Air pollution
has a direct impact on human health and has long-
term consequences. Technology has an important
role in shaping the world, countries, society,
economy and also the environment. All the
organizations are working on how to reduce
pollution, and scientists are thinking about using
technology to reduce pollution.
Figure 1: Air quality AQI hourly
3. Methodologies and technologies
The methodology used is mainly based on the
initial study of the environment where the
measurements were made. The two important
moments were the location of the points where the
measurements would be made and their
frequency. Subsequently, other helpful attributes
were determined, for example, for the location of
the building, the area, the floors, etc. and for the
frequency, it includes the weather forecast,
Figure 2: Air quality index (AQI) daily measurements at different times of the day, halls
filled with students. All these analyzes are
Previous studies have indicated that indoor PM presented with the schematic coded below
2.5 concentrations are strongly correlated with
outdoor PM2.5 concentrations.
Figure 3: Schematic analyses of the environment
at different times of the day.
Air quality index is a parameter calculated Figure 4: Process workflow
based on other values gathered during data
collection. Our tools include USA AQI. The built-in air quality Arduino tool used to
Air quality in the classroom is crucial to the measure air quality included the assessment of
student's health. PM 2.5, PM 1.0, PM 10 and AQI (air quality
In the beginning data were obtained by two index). The constituent elements part of this built-
sources. The first was the perception of the air in tool is:
quality by the students and the second was the Grove - Laser PM2.5 Dust Sensor -
concrete evaluation for air quality through Arduino Compatible - HM3301 which is a sensor
estimating the level of CO2, humidity and for measuring the level of PM 2.5 particles
temperature. classified as dangerous particles for human health
The methodology used helps clarify the when they exceed the limit of normality.
correlation between human perception and real Grove Base Shield V2.0 for Arduino
measurement. serving as a base that connects Arduino Uno
Air quality perception data was collected through devices and other versions such as Arduino
an online questionnaire fulfilled by students. The Leonardo and Mega. 4-pin connectors ensure
questionnaire included not only the students' simple and quick connections.
opinion on the current air quality but also a Seeeduino V4.2(ATMega328P) The
general framework of their health situation. Arduino board that comes with the development
After analyzing the environment, the workflow environment
continued with two parallel processes. 1. Grove - Universal 4 Pin Buckled 20cm
Assessment of air perception by students by Cable Connections between Base Shield, Arduino
completing an online questionnaire. 2. Concrete and sensor 2.5
air quality measurement using two devices, one Lipo Rider Plus (Charger/Booster) -
built-in Arduino tool and the other standardized 5V/2.4A USB Type C Connecting part between
device for measuring air quality the board and the lithium battery.
The following components and their relationship
is presented through figure below
Figure 7: Library included on Arduino IDE
Figure 5: DIY Air Quality monitor components
and their relationship.
Figure 8: Execution results on Arduino IDE
The second equipment used was a
standardized one. AirVisual is a device that
measures pollution to PM1.0 (μg/m3), PM2.5
(μg/m3), PM10 (μg/m3) particles and derives the
AQI (Air Quality Index) result from them.
Additionally, the device measures temperature
Figure 6: DIY Air Quality monitor (˚C), humidity (%) and air pressure (mbar). It is
designed to be used for particle pollution up to
The environment where Arduino code is 1,000 µg/m3. AirVisual performs these
developed is divided into two important groups: measurements through two already installed
• void Setup, • void Loop sensors.
One serves for the initialization of the
functionalities while the other for the execution of
these functions depending on the situations. The
results of code execution can be displayed in the
Serial Monitor using the basic command for
example:
Serial.println("Message").
The main part that helped display some test
metrics is:
aqi_pm = mapPMAQIValues(&pmReadings);
Serial.println(aqi_pm);
Where the variable that is taken as a parameter Figure 9: Commercial Air Visual Device
pmReadings reads the information
from the sensor, and by means of the mapping Certificate used FCC, IC, UL, ROHS, CE. The
function mapPMAQIValues connects the value in AirVisual Outdoor is manufactured in IQAir’s
mg of PM and converts it to AQI. state-of-the-art manufacturing location in
There are some libraries that need to be Southern Germany. AirVisual provides three
included at Arduino IDE as described by the Internet connection options. Ethernet, Wi-Fi and
picture below. USB 4G. Results collected by air visual device are
displayed by the application installed on phones:
Table 1
Comparison between devices
DIY Air Commercial
quality Air Visual
monitor Device
Cost Low High
Implementation Yes No
Simplicity in No Yes
usage
Application Arduino IDE Air Visual
App
Standards No Yes
Results Complicated Simpler
Figure 10: Results displayed by the Air Visual interface
Application Connectivity No (add WIFI-direct
components) access
4. Comparison between Air Quality
devices.
5. Advantages and disadvantages
In the market there are so many air quality
sensors with different features and functions. It is
between air quality devices
hard to pick which air quality sensor will fit the
best. For this reason, we have done a comparison Based on the data collected from the
between the Arduino air quality built-in device questionnaire on the perception of air quality and
and Air Visual Device that we bought. The IoT the concrete measured results performed by the air
devices are divided into three execution types: quality standardized devices, a direct correlation
• Processing time (the system is working) was noticed between them. It means that what is
• Sending processing time (the system perceived by people for the quality of air is in the
activated the GPS/GPRS sensor and sends data right way with the results of the equipment.
to the Edge). As a sum up the advantages and disadvantages
for using smart devices to monitor air quality are
• Resting time (the system is in sleep mode,
summarized in the table below [8].
saving battery).
:
Table 2
We must consider this specification when
choosing the smart device. Smart devices pros and cons.
• Operating Voltage Pros Cons
• Operating Temperature It detects many An air quality
• Operating Humidity different air monitor does not
• Particle Size 3 channels pollutants clean the air
During the working process which includes the Shows exactly It does not show the
two devices, several changes were identified, how your air is source of the
starting from the moment of configuration until doing pollutants
receiving the results. Those changes are
summarized in the table below. Allows you to The average
take action consumer grade
based on data monitor costs up to
and knowledge $100
Helps create the Helps create the
most healthy most healthy and
and comfortable comfortable home
class
6. Data flow process Figure 13: Table air_cities
The real-time measurement results were After creating the database, it was necessary to
included on a website created by us[9] , by which develop a script which receives the data
students will identify air pollution sources in the automatically from the device and stores it on the
school environment, analyze air pollution data database. The device has an API key (provided by
collected in real-time and think about ways to the commercial). By sending a request to
reduce exposure to air pollution on their journey POSTMAN using API Key: 4a28fd8e-1d3d-4aec-
to school and use them for further analysis and a0b4-8b98d416e532 we could get the necessary
projects. Using the API key from the commercial data to save on our database
device a JavaScript code was involved on The technology used to send the device request
www.airqualityfshn.info website. is the Php programming language. We build the
AirQuanity class which sets the device's API key
and the get methods for receiving data. API key
sends the data showing the air quality in JSON
format. With a function save(data) we read data
from the smart device in real time and insert it into
the database as soon as we have a new request
from the API key, that is, when a new
measurement is encountered. When the database
is populated with real-time air quality data, we
Figure 11: Website view present this data on a website by using a Php
script. The figure below shows the request to the
In order to monitor the air quality in real- time Air Quality Database to read the air quality data
and to have a history for each measurement that is and present them on the website. The general
made, we built a database whose main purpose architecture used during these activities is
was to feed our website with the data obtained presented in a schematic way below.
from the devices. The database we used was
MySQL and it has two tables (devices, air_cities).
The table device saves all data that identifies in a
unique way the air quality commercial equipment
with their location. The table air_cities hold the
necessary information sent to us by the air quality
device with the elements that identify the air
quality.
Figure 14: MYSQL connection-Schematically
Figure 12: Table devices
Figure 15: Airquality.php function • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
The results after executing the code are • Radon gas
displayed according to the table below as a data
collection. The development of an online platform which
currently presents some air quality elements, in a
standardized format by IQAir, will be an
important impetus to build an online real-time
application using webservices.
This study shows measurements of carbon
dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM2.5) and
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on indoor
Figure 16: Data collection environment at Faculty of Natural Science and
discusses the concentration levels of these
7. Recommendation parameters on indoor air quality. The data is made
actionable by performing advanced analytics. The
The work process cannot be called complete, sensor-based systems are low-cost, compact, and
considering that the work consists of continuous easy to install compared to conventional analyzer-
measurements, and by means of them, the based systems, making them an ideal system for
difference in the accuracy of the measurements scalable monitoring. Levels of carbon dioxide and
using the two devices can be clearly distinguished volatile organic compounds in some points we
and of course analyzed in a convenient way. measure in faculty were not too polluted. There
Normally, the addition of commercial and DIY are some future improvements that could be made
Arduino devices in other points of the faculty will to this project including monitoring the air quality
bring parallel evaluation of the measurements, not only at faculty but also in other areas that are
including the effect of other external factors. more popular and in we look forward to
In the future, there will also be the construction implementing cameras and robust ML analysis to
of a platform with alpha numerical and both improve the obtained results and test the
geographical data to create an image as user maximum number of allowed sensors
friendly as possible for every user of the
airqualityfshn.info website.
8. Conclusions 9. References
The main purpose of this paper is to convey the [1] UN environment programme, Pollution
work done during the development of a project for Action Note – Data you need to know, 2022.
air quality monitoring system by using smart URL: https://www.unep.org/interactive/air-
devices. Retrieve data from IOT devices (air pollution-note/
quality monitoring device and Air Visual [2] Pier Mannuccio Mannuci, Massimo
monitor) handle for further analysis and Franchini: Health Effects of Ambient Air
correlation between air pollution factors and the Pollution in Developing Countries, 2017.
impact it has on different fields, but also serves as URL:https://www.mdpi.com/1660-
a source for the development of an online 4601/14/9/1048
application that apprises in real time air quality for [3] Shankar S. Naveenkumar R., Abbas G.,
the internal and external environments at the Nithyaprakash r. , Maheswari Ch. Chander P.
Faculty of Natural Sciences. An important role is Alokesh P. Animesh B. Saurav D. Artificial
played by the creation of an air quality device Intelligence Technologies for Forecasting
based on Arduino at an acceptable cost and which Air Pollution and Human Health: A
also empowers the management of the application Narrative Review. 2022. URL:
created in C language. No comprehensive air https://www.mdpi.com/2071-
quality legislation exists in Albania. The most 1050/14/16/9951
commonly measured compounds for air pollution [4] Zhou Y, Yang G. Li X. Indoor Pm2.5
are: concentrations and students’ behavior in
• Particulate matter (PM2.5-PM10) primary school classrooms 2021. URL:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/artic
le/abs/pii/S095965262102672X
[5] IQAir, Air quality in Albanian, 2023. URL:
https://www.iqair.com/albania
[6] The Clean Air Act: Solving Air Pollution
Problems with Science and Technology,
2023. URL:https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-
act-overview/clean-air-act-solving-air-
pollution-problems-science-and-technology
[7] The James Dyson Foundation: Engineering
solutions: Air Pollution-Teacher pack. Pg 48.
2021. URL:
https://www.jamesdysonfoundation.com/res
ources/engineering-soluytions-air-
pollution.html.
[8] Cartieaux, E., Rzepka, M.A. and Cunny, D.
Indoor Air Quality in Schools. Archives de
Pediatrie. Pg 791-792. 2011.
[9] Air quality Faculty of Natural Science.
http://airqualityfshn.info