Combine sensors and remote sensing images to monitor air quality
A research team at Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnic University has successfully developed a monitoring system for indicators related to air quality by combining data obtained from measurement sensors with remote sensing image analysis.
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Sensors use solar energy Photo: NNC
Currently, in Vietnam, there are only 28 disaster warning maps developed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for communes at high risk of natural disasters, such as floods and landslides. There is almost no research to build a map application that updates information, such as air pollution situation, surface temperature of specific areas, especially big cities.
Ho Chi Minh City is facing many problems, such as air pollution due to exhaust emissions from vehicles, flooding, seasonal diseases, such as dengue fever, etc. In the field of environment, monitoring work. Air quality has been implemented by a number of departments and branches in Ho Chi Minh City for many years with a series of specific tools and solutions. However, the City does not yet have a complete, overall risk warning system to provide adequate information about air quality monitoring data in real time for management units. Currently, the data is not uniform and not regularly updated, making forecasting difficult.
Face with that fact, the authors of Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnic University conducted the project "Hazard map system using low-energy sensors and remote sensing data".
After nearly two years, the authors have designed and manufactured wireless communication sensors, capable of automatically collecting information about the environment, such as temperature, humidity, fine dust concentration PM 2.5, CO , CO2, Formandehit, then send to the central sensors and transfer data to the server via cloud computing.
When the data from the central sensors is sent to the server, the data processing algorithm on the server will analyze the received parameters to model and save in the database. The collected data will be presented in the form of graphs, maps, and colors, helping to present information in a visual, easy-to-observe and understandable manner to system users. When the environmental parameters exceed the specified threshold, the system will automatically send warning messages to the pre-set phone numbers.
Dr. Pham Quoc Cuong, the project leader, said that the data collection sensors and the central sensor are capable of operating with two power sources, namely batteries and solar, operating 24/7, connected to each other through LoRa wireless technology. The advantage of LoRa technology and solar battery system is that it does not depend on telecommunications and grid infrastructure in some areas where it is difficult to deploy monitoring systems, such as remote areas, areas with toxic chemicals.
According to Dr. Cuong, combining two data sources (from sensors and remote sensing images) to build a risk warning map is a new approach that complements and supports each other. Information from the sensors helps the models to analyze satellite images of each area more accurately. In contrast, the analysis of the images makes the warning more effective in areas where the sensor has not been deployed or has operational problems. Comparing data from remote sensing images with measured values of sensors from 8 areas of Ho Chi Minh City, the deviation is only 10-20% of the measured value. This shows that it is possible to use remote sensing images to collect information for areas where sensors have not been deployed.
The project has just been accepted by the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City this year.
ctngoc