How the Internet of Things (IoT) Can Improve the Air Quality

Various parts of the world are suffering from COVID- 19 outbreaks, there is lockdown everywhere. Metropolitan cities suffer the most due to the closure of big businesses; the transport business is facing real challenges now as the government wants everyone to stay at home. At the same time, various governments around the globe seek to pound the sensitive balance between resuming their economics.

As COVID – 19 pandemic effect, worldwide air quality has experienced something extraordinary. Delhi listed among one of the most polluted cities in the world has seen a dramatic transformation. The scenario is more or less for other significant hubs like Beijing, Sao Paulo, Bogota, and other polluted cities. According to the drone images, the vista has transformed from murky grey to beautiful blue.

Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) has become less than 20 which were otherwise be like 900 and above, according to the last few year’s environmental report. World Health Organization suggest anything above 25 is considered as unsafe.

Now it is the sole responsibility of the governments to strike a balance between business and nature after the lockdown. So the question is, will lessons be learned?

Tom Hall, the managing director of EarthSense, a provider of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into smart systems in order to visualize smart systems, received various requests from different parts of the world for how EarthSense can help. They wish to maintain the same air quality index even after resuming the lockdown without affecting businesses and revenues.

In a note he mentioned, once the effect COVID – 19 started to slow down, and governments resume everything as before, the air pollution scenario will change drastically worldwide as people will begin to get back to their normal life as before.

In a report, Tom describes the recent climate as “the biggest single global intervention you will probably ever see” – so lessons required to be learned. He also mentioned from the UK stats and the global stats it is clear that recent activity has impacted and improved the air quality, but still, there are fluctuations in air pollution based on the overall atmospheric condition.

He further added, as soon as everything will be normal people will rush to catch up on their normal lives, and the world will see a massive spike in air pollution, so it is better we should learn how to reduce the upcoming impact on the environment. The recent scenario certainly shows the world human being can improve air pollution and also we cannot afford to go back to things like before. The pollution level was still higher in the first week of the lockdown than the second.

People need to understand various reasons and ways of air pollution – the invisible factors and visible ones. Hall talked to the IoT news in the first week of lockdown in the UK when the pollution level was still higher than the following weeks.

What EarthSense try to do it to educate people about bad air quality and what they can do to overcome the situation. They need to understand what bad air quality looks like. In most cases, when people see a red air cloud above their head, they thought it as a natural phenomenon. As a business, they are trying to enable the strategies to avoid the situation.

Zephyr is an air quality sensor, a hardware product by EarthSense; Mappair is an air quality API that utilizes cloud-based data input together with proprietary modeling techniques and machine learning to reinforce data accuracy. Presently more than 400 sensor units are deployed mainly in the UK and other parts of the world. MappAir together with Zephyr products are specially designed to accord the whole situation.

Another offering named MyAir, a software launched earlier in 2020 as a service web app (Saas) in order to provide more and easier visualization capabilities. The idea is to offer a network of sensors across a city while every single sensor provides the necessary information to the street corner. According to Hall is doesn’t require much to understand the current levels of pollution and the factors responsible for it. The sensor can detect immediate air pollution status from road to road. That is how the approach will help fill in the network gaps.

Now the question is, what is the catch with GSM that used for remote transmission and the near-reference quality? According to the observation of Hall, all the current industry continues to play catch-up. They only provide cutting-edge products that do not require manual regulation and current certification. So it is the users’ responsibility to check the performance in order to help with the adoption of the new technology.

Hall notes the molarity of the customers of the products is comfortable with the traditional hardware size. According to the report, around 70% of EarthSense’s business is represented by Zephyr. But are actually buying the product, and what are their prospects?

Some of the unitary authorities of the product are-

• Coventry City Council
• Transport for Greater Manchester and
• The North District Council

But there are other system integrators like Innogy, Siemens, etc. are noticing the company qualities which clearly indicate Zephyr air quality sensors can be set up in smart city infrastructure and can be integrated with the existing weather and traffic system. The Zephyr and MappAir can send the measured data via API to the existing systems: promoting the advancement of future cities surrounded by pollution hotspots and also influence to take necessary decisions like the construction of a new building, traffic management, implementation of cycle lanes.

Hall cleared one thing, that progress cannot come overnight, which is quite similar to the development of air pollution over the years. Maybe a one-day electric car can replace fuel-driven cars around the world. Even if that happens, air pollution cannot be wiped out in a single stroke. The future approach has to be greener. Electric cars are a great option which will reduce NO2 emissions, but an electric car still contributes to pollution.

Hall concludes that we have to have a holistic approach from the beginning to come up with the best technologies that can save human lives and the environment together.