Design and Development of a Wireless Communication Network Based Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System for Metropolitan Cities

December 2015, marks the 32nd anniversary of the gas tragedy in Bhopal, India. Stagnant weather conditions caused a sharp increase in fatalities and for more than a year almost four people died each day leading an unexpected death toll over 4000 due to the release of 42 tons of toxic Methyl Isocyanate gas. This event is not an isolated incident that affected humans and the environment, as there have been many similar events such as Meuse valley, Belgium, London Smog event etc. Particulate air pollution has been conventionally measured by passing air through a particular filter paper and determining the density of black stain, known as “black smoke method”. Most metropolitan cities are seeing a significant increase in their vehicular registration count and have increased the black exhaust containing CO and other harmful gases along with particulate matter, thus rendering the black smoke method obsolete.