IoT Environmental Air Quality Monitoring Network — Smart City Pollution Tracking
A 150-node air quality monitoring network deployed across a metropolitan city — providing real-time PM2.5, CO2, and NO2 data on a public AQI map and enabling data-driven traffic policy decisions.
⚠The Problem
A city of 3 million people had 3 reference-grade air quality monitoring stations — installed decades ago, each costing $500K. Coverage was insufficient to identify pollution hotspots at the neighborhood level. Traffic planners, health officials, and the public had no real-time data. The city's asthma hospitalization rate was 40% above the national average, with no data to investigate correlations with pollution events.
💡Our Solution
We deployed 150 ESP32-based air quality nodes on street furniture (lamp posts, bus stops) across the city, each measuring PM2.5, PM10, CO2, NO2, CO, temperature, and humidity every 5 minutes. Nodes communicate via LoRaWAN to 12 gateways (existing TTN infrastructure). AWS IoT Core routes data to InfluxDB. A Lambda calculates AQI using the EPA formula and flags AQI > 150 as unhealthy — triggering automated alerts to the health department. The public Mapbox dashboard is available on the city website, showing real-time AQI heatmaps. Data is published as a public API, enabling integration with health apps and research.
🔗System Architecture
ESP32 Nodes (LoRa) → TTN Gateways → AWS IoT Core → InfluxDB → Lambda (AQI) → Public React MapTech Stack
- ESP32 with LoRa module
- PMS5003 PM2.5/PM10 sensor
- MH-Z19B CO2 sensor
- MICS-6814 (CO, NO2, NH3)
- BME280 (temperature, humidity, pressure)
- Solar + supercapacitor power system
- LoRaWAN (city-wide coverage)
- MQTT to AWS IoT Core
- 4G backup for critical nodes
- AWS IoT Core
- InfluxDB (sensor time-series)
- Lambda (AQI calculation)
- S3 (public data export)
- Public React AQI map (Mapbox)
- Government admin dashboard
- Public API for third-party apps
Key Features
Results Delivered
- 150 monitoring nodes providing 50× denser coverage vs. reference stations
- Pollution hotspots identified in 3 industrial zones (actionable for city planners)
- Traffic rerouting pilot launched in high-pollution corridor
- Data used in 2 peer-reviewed public health research papers
- Public dashboard receives 25,000 unique visitors/month
Technologies
Who This Is For
Municipal governments, environmental agencies, smart city operators, industrial zone regulators
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