Journal of Communication Engineering and Its Innovations

Volume 5 Issue 3

Vehicular Pollution Monitoring System Using IoT

Joseph Mathew Skaria Maliyekal1*, Shancy Elizabeth Shaji1, Vandana H1, Divya R S2
1
Student, 2Assistant Professor
Department of Electronics and Communication, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering Kanjirappally,
Kerala, India
Email: *jitojoseph333@gmail.com
DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3570505

Abstract
Pollution is an ever-sustaining environmental issue in today’s world. Automobile emission
being the major contributor to pollution, this system can be considered as a control measure.
This system focusses on developing a vehicular pollution monitoring system based on the
Internet of Things (IoT). The amount of pollution emitted by the vehicles can be measured
with the help of sensors interfaced to Arduino. If the sensed value goes beyond the threshold
value set in the program then automatically an alert message as a warning will be sent to the
vehicle owner two or three times and if they are reluctant to correct it, the message will be
forwarded to the authorities. These data are finally stored in a cloud for future analysis. The
main objective is to develop an innovative and time-saving system, thereby proposing a
solution for environmental pollution.

Keywords: Internet of things, MQ sensors, vehicular pollution monitoring, Wi-Fi module

INTRODUCTION compulsory for all vehicles in Indian roads.

Nowadays, pollution is one of the major It is to ensure that the vehicle is under the
problems in the world. One of the major norms of pollution. The validity of the
contributors to pollution is from vehicle certificate is 6 months. After that, we must
emissions. Emissions that are released take a new certificate. To overcome this
directly from the cars and trucks are the problem, our proposed system has an
primary source of vehicular pollution. inbuilt system inside the vehicle that
Motor vehicles also pollute the air during checks the continuous emission values.
the processes of manufacturing, refueling,
and from the emissions associated with oil This paper proposes a framework for
refining. BS are emission standards by the collecting real- time data from sensors
Government of India to regulate the output using IoT. The paper is organized into five
of air pollutants from combustion engine sections: section 2 is about literature
equipment, motor vehicle. To control the survey and related works, section 3 is the
pollution exhausted by vehicles, the proposed system, section 4 is the
amount of air pollution is needed to be experimental setup, and section 5
calculated, and vehicle causing pollution experimental results and section 6
must be identified. Internet of Things may concludes the paper.
become helpful in cities for monitoring air
pollution from vehicles and the amount of LITERATURE SURVEY AND
pollution can be gathered and analyzed. RELATED WORKS
This system is specially designed to In the literature survey conducted, there
operate the system using a sensor network are different approaches developed for
and gather information about pollutant monitoring vehicular pollution. For
levels discharged by the vehicles. To instance, in paper Rushikesh et al. [1] the
control the emission from the vehicle the concept talking about is to control the
Government has implemented a PUC pollution level with the help of MQ
certification. PUC Certification is sensors, RFID and Arduino. If the

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 Journal of Communication Engineering and Its Innovations
Volume 5 Issue 3

pollution level is above the threshold the temperature variations, sound,

authorities will be informed about it. The potentiometer readings and so on. It
microcontroller then reads the level and it represents the output data as a graphical
will be sent to the vehicle owner and to the format as well as in an excel sheet.
server for future analysis.
PROPOSED SYSTEM
In paper Manna et al. [2] the high traffic In the proposed system, a smart
area is selected to monitor the pollution monitoring system is used for monitoring
level with the help of RFID placed at a the emissions from the vehicles. Two
short fixed distance along with the sensor sensors are used to collect the data from
nodes at the roadside. The tag number of the exhaust of the vehicles. The sensors
the vehicle is identified by an RFID reader are connected to the input pin of Arduino
and is transmitted to the server. When the and the values are sensed. A threshold is
sensor level is high than the threshold, a set in the Arduino. If the sensed data goes
message is sent to the owner. According to above the threshold, a warning message is
Priyanka et al. [3], the sensors are placed at given to the owner using GSM. Two or
the outlets of the vehicles and the output of more warning messages are given with
it is given to the input of Arduino and if some delays. If the owner reluctant to
beyond the threshold value, the correct it, or to decrease the pollution from
information is sent through GSM to IBM the vehicle, the data are transferred to the
Watson IoT platform. The data collected authority through GSM. The data are
from each of the vehicles are viewed by stored in a cloud by ThingSpeak for future
logging in using user credentials on the analysis. By using this system, the owner
dashboard. Considering Pavani et al. [4], can analyze the emission level of his
the gas sensor used for checking the vehicle. Authorities can take appropriate
pollution level is the TGS4161 electrolyte actions accordingly.
carbon dioxide sensor which needs to be
calibrated by exposing them to several EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
concentrations of gas and each sensor The block diagram of the experimental
output is then plotted accordingly. setup is shown in Fig. 1. The proposed
The goal of Rahman et al. [5] is to system is divided into two parts; (1)
interface the output from the sensors used hardware implementation and (2) software
with the online development environment implementation
ThingSpeak. The signal inputs include

Figure 1: Block diagram.

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 Journal of Communication Engineering and Its Innovations
Volume 5 Issue 3

Hardware Implementation MQ Sensors

The hardware of the pollution monitoring Two MQ sensors are used, MQ 7 to sense
system consists of an Arduino board, MQ Carbon Monoxide and MQ135 is to sense
sensors, GSM module, and Wi-Fi module. air quality. It is simple and widely used gas
sensors because of its complexity. There is
Arduino Board a wide range of sensors available to detect
Arduino is a hardware source platform. a specific gas like Methane, N Ox, Sox,
Like other programmable circuit boards, LPG, CNG, Carbon Monoxide and
Arduino does not have a separate piece of Alcohol. It has a 4 pin interface: 5V, GND,
DOUT (Digital Output) and AOUT
hardware. The Software of Arduino uses a
(Analog Output) applications MQ 135 is
simplified version of C++, it provides an
used in air quality monitoring, detection of
easier environment for doing projects.
harmful gases, domestic air pollution.
Atmega328 is the microcontroller used in
Arduino. It is low power and high- The sensor layer of the sensor is made up
performance microcontroller used to read of Tin dioxide (SnO2); it has lower
and control the data from sensors. It has 14 conductivity compare to clean air and due
digital input/output pins, 6 analog inputs, to air pollution the conductivity increases.
and a reset button. The Arduino can be A voltage of 5V is needed as the input of
powered through a USB connection of 5V. the gas sensor. The pinout of the MQ
Fig. 2 shows an Arduino Board. Sensor is shown in Fig. 3

Figure 2: Arduino board.

Figure 3: MQ sensor pinout.

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 Journal of Communication Engineering and Its Innovations
Volume 5 Issue 3

Figure 4: GSM SIM 900.

GSM SIM 900 CDMA. It digitizes and compresses data

GSM (Global System for Mobile and operates at either 900MHz or
communications) is a standard 1800MHz frequency band.
developed by the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute Wi-Fi Module
(ETSI) to describe the protocols for Arduino does not have an inbuilt Wi-Fi
second- generation (2G) digital cellular system, so an external module ESP8266 is
networks used by mobile devices such used. The ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi- Fi
as mobile phones and tablets. GSM microchip. It offers a complete and self-
Module is shown in Fig. 4. contained Wi-Fi networking solution,
allowing it to either host the application or to
MQ-7 gas sensor has a high sensitivity to offload all Wi-Fi networking functions from
Carbon Monoxide. The sensor could be another processor. ESP8266 has powerful
used to detect different gases contains CO. onboard processing and storage capabilities.
It is with low cost and suitable for Its high degree of on-chip integration allows
different. In this project, GSM is used for for minimal external circuitry, and the entire
sending a warning message to a predefined solution, including the front-end module, is
number written in the Arduino program. designed to occupy minimal PCB area.
ESP8266 Serial Wi-Fi Wireless Transceiver
SIM 900 model GSM is used. Global Module is suitable for Uno, Mega 2560 and
System for Mobile Communication uses a Nano.3.3V is needed for the ESP8266
variety of TDMA and is the three digital module. The pinout of ESP8266 is shown in
wireless technology such as TDMA, Fig. 5.

Figure 5: ESP8266 Wi-Fi module.

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 Journal of Communication Engineering and Its Innovations
Volume 5 Issue 3

Software Implementation ThingSpeak enables the creation of sensor

The software implementation of the proposed logging applications, location tracking
system is developed using the flowchart as applications, and a social network of
shown in Fig. 7. The sensed values are shared things with status updates. We can collect
to a Thing Speak cloud using the Esp8266 and share data via channels in ThingSpeak.
Wi- Fi module. It is stored there. We can use
the stored data for future analysis. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT
ThingSpeak is an open source IoT application IoT based pollution monitoring system is
and API to store and retrieve data from things developed and the performance of the
using HTTP protocol over the internet via a developed system is verified.
Local Area Network.

Figure 6: ThingSpeak result of MQ 7 sensor.

Figure 7: Flowchart of the proposed system

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 Journal of Communication Engineering and Its Innovations
Volume 5 Issue 3

Fig. 6 shows the result of the IoT data for Speak. Fig. 8 shows the GSM output
the MQ 7 Sensor. The sensed data was cloud.
successfully sent to the cloud of Thing

Figure 8: GSM output.

This project design gives a solution for the vehicle owner gets an awareness about
identifying pollution causing vehicles. the emission level without going for a
This system is a product in the sense that checking process. The main objective is
they are of low cost and the pollution level we will be aware of the pollution level
of any vehicle with a sensor inbuilt at the from the vehicles. Hence a solution for
exhaust can have its pollution status. Since global warming.
the sensors are placed at the exhaust, there
is no chance of any mixing of other ACKNOWLEDGMENT
pollutions from vehicles or from the First of all, we sincerely thank the
environment, changing the actual sensor Almighty who is most beneficent and
value or working condition of the system. merciful for giving us the knowledge and
courage to complete the work of our
CONCLUSION project successfully. We also extend our
This paper represents the design and sincere thanks to the Dept. of Electronics
development of vehicular pollution and Communication, Amal Jyothi College
monitoring system using IoT. The of Engineering, Kanjirappally for their
experimental setup has been calibrated and kind support and coordination. We express
the performance of the system has verified. our heartfelt gratitude to Divya R S,
The developed system checks the pollution Internal Supervisor, for her valuable
level emitted by the vehicles and if it is guidance and suggestions during the
above the threshold, a warning message Project work. Finally, we appreciate the
will be sent to the vehicular owner using patience and solid support of our parents
the GSM module. These data are finally and enthusiastic friends for their
stored in a cloud for future analysis. This encouragement and moral support for this
idea differs from the existing system that effort.

38 Page 33-39 © MAT Journals 2019. All Rights Reserved

 Journal of Communication Engineering and Its Innovations
Volume 5 Issue 3

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pollution monitoring system”,IEEE, Using Wireless Sensor Networks”,
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Nandini Mukherjee (2014), “Vehicular Graves (2016), “Internet of Things
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IEEE, (pp. 2214-2220). Thingspeak Cloud”, IEEE, (pp.- 352-
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