Design and implementation of a low-cost and multi-parameter indoor air quality detector based on IoT

Nowadays, poor air pollution has become a leading environmental risk. Detection of indoor air pollutants may be more crucial than outdoor, because people spend nearly 90% of their time indoors. This paper proposes a low-cost and multi-parameter indoor air quality detector, able to measure seven significant indoor air parameters. Firstly, based on IoT concept, the system architecture of the proposed detector is introduced. Subsequently, by adopting modular method, the hardware circuit of various air parameter acquisition modules is designed. Then, based on (IC)-C-2 and UART protocol, the corresponding software programs for each module are developed. Moreover, the proposed system has been deployed in an office room of China Three Gorges University (CTGU) and stably operated for nearly a year. The test results show that the proposed system can accurately sense and reliably upload multiple air indexes including temperature, humidity, PM2.5, PM10, CO2, HCHO and VOC, which is suitable for IoT applications like smart home and smart building.