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. 2015 May 26;15(6):12242-59.
doi: 10.3390/s150612242.

A low-cost sensing system for cooperative air quality monitoring in urban areas

Simone Brienza  1 , Andrea Galli  2 , Giuseppe Anastasi  3 , Paolo Bruschi  4
Affiliations

A low-cost sensing system for cooperative air quality monitoring in urban areas

Simone Brienza et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Air quality in urban areas is a very important topic as it closely affects the health of citizens. Recent studies highlight that the exposure to polluted air can increase the incidence of diseases and deteriorate the quality of life. Hence, it is necessary to develop tools for real-time air quality monitoring, so as to allow appropriate and timely decisions. In this paper, we present uSense, a low-cost cooperative monitoring tool that allows knowing, in real-time, the concentrations of polluting gases in various areas of the city. Specifically, users monitor the areas of their interest by deploying low-cost and low-power sensor nodes. In addition, they can share the collected data following a social networking approach. uSense has been tested through an in-field experimentation performed in different areas of a city. The obtained results are in line with those provided by the local environmental control authority and show that uSense can be profitably used for air quality monitoring.

Keywords: air quality monitoring; cooperative system; participatory sensing; urban sensing.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
System architecture.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Libelium Gas Sensor Board. (b) A sensor node inside its PVC box.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Webpage showing AQI levels for three sensor nodes.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mobile interface: initial page (Left) and nearest sensor nodes (Right).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Locations of sensor nodes and control authority sensing station during in-field experimentation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Sensor installation in Zone A (a), Zone B (b), Zone B (c).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Experimental results: gas concentrations (NO2, and CO) in the three zones.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Experimental results: Air Quality Index (AQI) in the three zones.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Experimental results: NO2 values measured in Zone C and values provided by the local environmental control authority.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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