hi

1. An IoT Based Approach To MinimizeAnd
Monitor Air Pollution Using ESP32 and
Blynk Platform
Asra Noorain F, Jibin Raju, Varsha V
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Presidency University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
asranoorain3@gmail.com, jibinraju1906@gmail.com, varshav121998@gmail.com
Nanditha H G
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Presidency University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
nandithahg@presidencyuniversity.in
Astract- The world population grows ever more Urban, The towns are under pressure to remain livable. The rates
of air pollution in both developed and developing countries are now rising dramatically, which has been overlooked.
Air quality therefore needs to be continuously tracked. The proposed system includes the design to monitor Air
Pollution, by implementing it as an application in a bot(bike) to create public awareness. Air pollution is a mixture
of particulate matter and gases that can exceed unhealthy concentrations, both indoors and outdoors. Its impact
may range from elevated disease risk to heightened temperature. Passenger cars are a significant contributor to
emissions, containing large quantities of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and other pollutants. To easily monitor
all the vehicles, we are developing a system called an IoT-based air pollution monitoring system, through which we
can easily monitor all the vehicles. In this project, the IoT plays a critical function, the sensors mounted at the
exhaust track the amount of various gases, and the value is modified to the cloud with the help of IoT. This makes
each and every vehicle owner and transport workplace to watch the vehicles simply.
Keywords –Internet of Things, ESP32 controller, Gas Sensors, Blynk Platform.
I. INTRODUCTION
Air pollution is the worst environmental issues, causing a host of adverse health based issues in humans,
effecting water sources, and climate, and also ground level ozone damage. Industries and Automobiles
are the principal cause of air pollution in all major cities.[1] Transportation is the primary source of carbon
monoxide generation contributing about 72 percent of total pollution. It is necessary to control the
amount of air pollution and to know the vehicles responsible for the emissions in order to reduce air
pollution. The Internet of Things is useful in cities for tracking air emissions from cars as well as for
detecting and analyzing data on the volume of emissions in a given region. In this paper we suggest and
establish an Iot-based air quality monitoring program. Iot is used along with cloud to render the service
quicker and more real-time. In a specific area, where there is acute air pollution, the proposed standalone
device is / can be built to detect the constituent air gasses which may cause adverse effects on human
and other living beings. This device uses ESP32 bit microcontroller and multiple gas sensors to determine
the amount of harmful gasses such as carbon monoxide, smoke, etc. Whereas the applicant bot(bike) is
use to minimize air pollution by installing it in any vehicle, by analyzing the level of pollution in the bike
through exhaust. The pollution level is displayed on the LCD screen, if crossed the threshold level then an
indication will be provided through the LCD screen and further measures should be taken. In Android
Application, the measured air quality level is also displayed which helps the user get updates about the
current air quality. Users can display the level of air pollution in graphical format. The program therefore
helps users to take appropriate preventive steps to protect themselves against adverse effects.
The Yumunathangam paper aims to make the service real-time and faster with the use of IOT along with
cloud. The proposed device is built on the geographic location where Air Pollution is severe.[7] Hazardous
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Volume XII, Issue VI, 2020
ISSN No : 1006-7930
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2. pollutant levels are tracked at regular intervals, generating public awareness through an Android
Application that displays the amount of each pollutant detected, as well as the air quality index at that
particular spot.[8]
The Arun Kumar paper gives us a presented solution for monitoring pollution. Here the air quality data
collected from the smart devices and evaluated the impacts on urban dwellers in real time.[3] Smart
devices are capable of calculating temperature , humidity, carbon monoxide, LPG, smoke and other
hazardous and other relevant issues such as PH2.5 and PM10 environmental rates. The data collected
can be accessed globally via an Android Program.[5]
II. DESIGN
The paper aims to design an air pollution monitoring system that can be mounted in any specific location
and to create an application (bot) to improve the system from the previously developed system beating
the earlier drawbacks by creating an application that tracks the pollution in bikes and warns the public.
This can be used by anyone in their bikes to understand the pollution in their region. It uses ESP32 with
individualgas sensors likeMQ7, MQ135, In order tomeasure gaseslikecarbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide,
smoke, etc. The above gas sensors will measure the concentration of each sensor separately and also, it
uses LCD to display the pollution level. The data collected is submitted to the cloud at a daily interval of
time using the Blynkframework.
Figure 1. Pollution monitoring system using IoT
The real time monitoring of vehicles pollution using IoT is shown in Figure 1. Where,ESP32 is the
controller used which has enabled Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the above gas sensors are used to sense different
gases and analyze the pollution level, further these values are sent to the cloud using Blynk Platform to
make it real-time and faster, these values are displayed on the LCD screen and can be read.
Figure 2. Application(Bot) of the proposed system
Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology
Volume XII, Issue VI, 2020
ISSN No : 1006-7930
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3. In the application (bot) as the temperature and pollution level increases the set threshold, it's sense it and
displays the pollution in the LCD screen used in both the standalone and the application (bot) and also to
the blynk app (mobile phones) and also, it sends the data to the environmental pollution authority and
that bike can be stopped and serviced immediately after providing the buffer period (4-5days) and
charges to be paid if not done as proposed. The figure below is the circuit diagram of our system.
Figure 3. Circuit Diagram of the Proposed System.
Users can install an android application to display the recent pollution alerts in that area as graphical
content, up-to - date and thus the effect. The air quality control and awareness raising network
architecture is shown above.
One can display the concentrate amount of each gas in graph format. Based on these standards, the air
quality value is measured and the essence of the air quality in the region is decided to build knowledge
among the public, which is also demonstrated through the application. Users won't be distracted by
irrelevant data as the meaning showed our precise position and helped them stay tuned to air pollution
status.
III. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSE SYSTEM
A. ESP32 :-
ESP32 is an advanced microcontroller chip, capable of working with different communication
technologies and sensors. Due to its simplicity, low cost, low power, dual mode (Integrated Wi-Fi and dual
Bluetooth mode) and availability of numerous hardware extensions, the board can be used with utmost
efficiency.
B. Gas Sensors:-
Along with MQ135 Sensor, the gas sensor MQ7 is used. These sensors test dangerous gasses such as
carbon monoxide, ammonia, methane, smoke, and carbon dioxide, etc. From this is gathered the
concentration of different gases. The data collected was submitted to cloud to obtain the concentration
of gases in PPM(particles per million).
C. DC motors:-
DC motors convert electric direct current into mechanical energy. Both (M1 and M2) the DC motors run
with same speed as instructed. Motors used here are a 12V DC geared motors with a .25” motor output
shaft and a 2mm rear encoder shaft.
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ISSN No : 1006-7930
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4. D. Motor Driver :-
The L298 engine driver is a processor for high voltage and current power motors. Different loads such as
motors and solenoid etc. need to be worked where edge bridge is needed. It is a high-power motor driver
which is currently regulated and a single processor which can be powered by PWM. It has allowed inputs
to independently activate or disable the specific connected unit at its output.
E. Display Device:-
LCM1602 I2C isused asthe intermediatebetween ESP32 and the LCD which is used, as it reduces thepin
count of the LCD. Instead of needing 8 Data, RD, WR and CD (11 i/o lines) it now needs only two, SCL and
SDA the 12C board on the back of the display receives data over 12C and expands it to the static signals
needed by the LCD.LCD used is 16x2.
IV. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSE SYSTEM
A. Arduino Integrated Development Environment:-
Arduino IDE is an open source forum that allows it simple to compose and add code to the project,
and is also a cross-browser application written in C and C++ language for windows, macOS , and
Linux. It is used to write and upload programs which are compliant with boards. Android is a tool to
render machines that are more able to feel and monitor the physical world than your desktop
computers. Its physical computing platform open source based on a simple board of
microcontrollers and board software development.
B. Blynk Platform:-
Blynk is an IOS / Android Application Software for the power of the Web with Arduino , Raspberry pi,
ESP32 and the likes. It's a visual dashboard where users can easily drag and drop widgets to create
a interactive environment for their project. Blynk deals with hundreds of device models and various
forms of interfaces. Blynk supports most Arduino boards, variants of Raspberry Pi, the ESP8266,
Particle Core, and a range of other popular microcontrollers and single-board computers, and more
over time. Shielding of Arduino Wi-Fi and Ethernet is allowed so they can also track computers that
are plugged into a machine's USB port. Some of Blynk's most useful features is that the consumer
will build a local Blynk server which will enable users to maintain anything inside their own home
network.
V. COMPARISON OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
1. The system gives us the advantage of measuring and monitoring the air pollution in any particular
locality and in a particular device.
2. In the proposed system we use ESP32 as the controller instead of Raspberry pi or Arduino or any other
boards as controllers. As ESP32 is low cost, minimum size, with 520kb SRAM as the memory, with the
clock speed of 160MHz to 240MHz, with the capacity of multitasking, with the input voltage of 3.3V and
also built-in voltage regulator of voltage 3.7V to 5V, with the built-in chip called CP2102 which is used to
convert USB to UART and vice versa, It also has a wifi and Bluetooth module enabled in the board.It also
has number of peripheral interfaces, with high security along with features like Secure Boot, Flash
Encryption, Cryptographic hardware acceleration.
3. This system consists of LCM1602 I2C along with the LCD which is used to minimize the number of pin
count of LCD. It also consists of a H-bridge for simpler connection of the DC motors to the controller.
The proposed system consists of Blynk Platform to input the data and to read the result. The Blynk
Platform reads the input from gas sensors and displays the result to the user in the numeric format as
well as in the graphic format which is not the case with other proposed models. This system can also
adapt to Thingspeak to read the results only in the numeric format.
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ISSN No : 1006-7930
Page No: 561

5. 4. The Blynk Platform can take ten values of data as input in just one second, whereas other models
cannot.
5. The proposed system can be installed in a bike to measure and minimized air pollution by taking
certain measures, as compared with other models.
Also giving an approach that it can further be/can be installed in any automobiles, thus minimizing air
pollution.
VI. ADVANTAGES AND APPLICATIONS OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
Advantages:-
1. Maintain healthy air quality, and prevent emissions. The air quality can be tested both indoors and
outdoors.
2. Monitoring of the tests remotely and in real time.
3. More accurate details for assessing and making decisions.
4. Need fewer human activity in or elsewhere at dangerous places.
5. Sensors are easily aavailable. A wide range of gasses, including NH3, NOx, alcohol, benzene, smoke
and CO2,CO etc aredetected.
6. Sensors have a long service life and fewer costs.
7. It's lightweight, quick and easy to manage, it's also simple drive circuit, it's real time device.
8. Visual performance, constant shift modification in numerical as well as graphical type.
Applications:-
1. The proposed project can be implemented in a bike(bot).
2. It is used as roadside pollution monitoring device(standalone).
3. It can also be implemented as Industrial Perimeter Monitoring device. i.e., Industrial chimney and
Exhaust fan.
4. It can be used as Indoor air quality monitoring device. i.e., Gas Geysers, Air Conditioners, etc.
5. data is made accessible to public through mobile application and other means.
VII. RESULTS AND EXPIREMENTS
For air quality analysis, data were collected in residence as well as outdoors for 2 days each. Both the
outputs are displayed. MQ1 is MQ7 sensor senses Carbon Monoxide (CO) gas . Carbon Monoxide
concentrations which is one of the harmful gases produced due to air pollution. MQ2 is a MQ135 sensor
capable of detecting a wide range of gasses, including NH3, NOx, alcohol , benzene , smoke and CO2. The
proposed system monitors air pollutants from different locations and uploads the data for further
processing and analysis onto the cloudserver.
The proposed IoT based measuring system for air quality can be used in two ways, as said before it can
work as both standalone device as well as an device installed in a vehicle. To boost air quality, the device
is proposed to track atmosphere air using ESP32 microcontroller, an IOT Technology. Using this
technology, it enhances the monitoring process for various environmental aspects, such as the issue of
air quality monitoring proposed in this project. Here the use of MQ7 and MQ135 gas sensors provides a
sense of specific type of dangerous gases and ESP32 is the heart of this project that regulates the entire
operation. Wi-Fi module connects internet to the entire process. This system has features for the people
using the user friendly blynk application to monitor the amount of pollution on their mobile phones.
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ISSN No : 1006-7930
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6. 1. Result of the Stand-alone device:-
The obtained air quality measurement in the housing Area is 1200m². The room in which the
mesurements were made is 250m² at a height of 1.5 m. There was no air cleaning system in the house,
and the ambient ventilation was done by opening the windows manually. During the measurement the
doors in the household were not closed, and thus the air throughout the house was homogeneous.
X-axis of the graph represents time, whereas the Y-axis represents the quality of air. The scale of y-axis
has to be multiplied with 100 in order to get the values in ppm.
Figure 4.1. Displays 4-day indoor measurement graph showing the connection between the reading of the sensor and the time
The below graph (Figure 4.2) shows the readings which were taken in the outdoors. Increase in the level
of gases can be observed in this graph. The reading was taken for two days straight. Movements of
vehicles were moderate in the monitored area. The volume of the traffic was observed modest with
movements of 50-60 vehicles /hour.
Figure 4.2. Displays the outdoor readings of sensor over 4 days.
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ISSN No : 1006-7930
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7. The front panel images of the mobile user interface developed for Android are given in Figure 4.3. The
below image shows the live readings of the sensors. Digital data is stored using the Blynk cloud server
service, and can be easily accessed at any time. The Blynk graphical components (widgets) allow the use
of the features of the real-time clock and calendar (RTCC).
Figure 4.3. Displays the live reading on the blynk platform
2. Result of the device installed on the Bot:-
The device installed on the bot was monitored in two scenarios. The first one was when the pollution level
was normal, at this point the bot moved without any interruption. The movement of bot is controlled via
blynk app. The second scenario was when the pollution level reached above the threshold level that is
1000ppm. In the second scenario the bot moved only for 3 seconds and then stopped. The 3 seconds is
equal to the buffer time 3 days given to the vehicle owner to service his vehicle. The bot was stopped and
an alert message was displayed on the LCD.
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ISSN No : 1006-7930
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8. Figure 5.1. Displays the reading when the level on the bot is normal Figure 5.2. bot reading when pollution is normal
Figures 5.1 and 5.2 are the resultant graph and the status of the bot when the pollution level from the bot
is normal. these results were captured from the bot that is our prototype. The vehicle (bot) would run
normally if the pollution level is below the given threshold limits.
Figure 5.3. displays the reading when level on botreaches threshold. Figure 5.4. Bot reading when pollution reaches threshold
Figures 5.3 and 5.4 are the resultant graph and the status of the bot when the pollution level from the bot
has crossed the threshold.
These above figures showsthe graphical and physical representation of the bot when subjectedto
different conditions.
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ISSN No : 1006-7930
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9. VIII. CONCLUSION
The proposed IoT based measuring system for air quality can be used in two ways, as said before it can
work as both standalone device as well as an device installed in a vehicle. To boost air quality, the device
is proposed to track atmosphere air using ESP32 microcontroller, IOT Technology. Using IOT
technologies, it improves the monitoring cycle for different environmental based issues, such as the
problem of air quality control proposed in this project. This paper also provides us with the concept and
implementation of an IoT centered framework for tracking automotive emissions. The implementation of
the hardware architecture and the software is discussed in length.
The IoT-based approach to reducing and tracking air emissions is a move forward in leading to the
response to the biggest human challenge which is air pollution. This program surmounts the issue of
heavily contaminated environments which is a big concern. It embraces the latest technologies, and
promotes the idea of safe living effectively. The data is immediately processed in the database; this can
be used to take timely action by authorities. It also allows the public to realize how many toxins there are
in their area and to take effective steps. The device built is a low cost, simple to run and quick to install at
any place. The systems built offer greater precision at low cost than the current program.
IX. FUTURE SCOPE
1. The proposed system can be implemented in Gas Geyser for detecting the amount of Carbon
Monoxide or any hazardous gases emitted in order to create awareness in public.The device proposed
might give the Pollutant level details for potential analyzes to server. The environmental pollution
authority can analyze the data and also detect the number of vehicle registration which causes more
amount of air pollution
2. The emission testing of any vehicle can be avoided by pre-doing with few more sensors using the
proposed system.
3. When the device is modified, it can also be used as an Emission Tester. In this way every vehicle will
undergo emission testing.
4.Solar power will in future be used as an alternative source of electricity which can certainly increase the
device's efficiency.
REFERENCES
[1] Marin B. Marinov, Ivan Topalov Elitsa Gieva, Georgi Nikoolov, ”Air Quality Monitoring in Urban Environments” IEEE-2016.
[2] Pal, Poonam, et al. "IoT Based Air Pollution Monitoring System using Arduino.",Vol-3, Issue-4, (2017).
[3] Harsh N. Shah, Zishan Khan, Abbas Ali Merchant, Moin Moghal, Aamir Shaikh, Priti Rane, “IoT Based Air Pollution Monitoring
System” International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research Volume 9, Issue 2, Feb-2018.
[4] Akhil Joseph1 , Amila Ikbal2 , Anitta V J3 , Arjun R Krishnan4 , Neema M, “IoT enabled Air Quality Monitoring and Visualization
System” RTVCN - 2018.
[5] Arun Kumar, Vinay Anand, Harsh Gupta, Dhananjay Bhardwaj and Himanshu Agarwal, "An IOT Based Air Pollution Monitoring
System For Cities", 2019.
[6] Vijay Kumar Sajjan and Pramod Sharma, "Research On An IOT Based Air Pollution Monitoring System, July 2019.
[7] “Epidemiological Study on Effect of Air Pollution on Human Health in Delhi”, Environmental Health Management Series:
EHMS/011, Central Pollution Control Board, Government of India.
[8] Yumunathangam, k. Prithika and P. Varuna, "IOT Enabled Air Pollution and Awareness Creation System", November 2019
Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology
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ISSN No : 1006-7930
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