Automated Drone-Aided PM Monitoring System Using LoRa Protocol

To ameliorate the air quality in an urban environment, it is necessary to monitor and analyze the Air Quality (AQ) levels with high precision and accuracy. Current AQ data collection, monitoring, and reporting stations are colossal, immobile, exorbitant, and strenuous to identify the abrupt pollutant spikes. However, it could have been more utilitarian if they could capture the data in real time in 3D space. In this research, we have used drone-assisted LOng RAnge (LoRa) modules for more secure and distant data transmission, with a range up to 2 km for monitoring PM2.5 and PM10. Long-range (LoRa) technology furnishes a broad wireless solution for the acquisition of data and communication through its outstanding performance, like the undiminished-range transmission, lesser power consumption, less interference and strong penetration. We successfully assessed our prototype in urban areas with a maximum vertical height reaching sixty meters. All the data acquisitions have been designed and evaluated using SCADA toolbox. Hence, the drone-aided AQ monitoring systems can be utilized to understand the exposure of criteria pollutants at different altitudes in the urban environments.