Industrial Air Pollution Monitoring System Based on Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Environmental conditions have a major impact on our well-being, comfort and productivity. Present state of the air quality control in almost all manufacturing industries in our country is based on taking samples one or few times a day, which means that there is no information about time distribution of polluted materials intensity during day. This paper proposes an industrial air pollution monitoring system based on wireless sensor network system that enables sensor data to be delivered within time constraints so that appropriate observations can be made or actions taken. Obtaining these accurate real-time results in-situ allows regulatory agency to take necessary action whenever pollution occurs. The analysis focuses on six substances, known as criteria air pollutants – ozone, particulate matter, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead. The sensors self-organize themselves in a radio network using a routing algorithm, monitor the area to measure the gas levels in air and transmit the data to a central node, sometimes called a pollution server or base station (interfaced with coordinator), or sink node, that collects the data from all of the sensors. With the results from the data acquisition system in hand, the regulatory agent need to implement a number of decisions based on the final statistics. The data obtained from the experiments were analysed in real-time analysis and the results from two sensor nodes taken for a 24 hours period were promising. The usage of this system will reduce human health effects of industrial air pollutants and potential damage to other aspects of the environment.