Introduction: LTE Modem Stack for Smart Air System: Improving the Indoor Air Quality

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Staying indoors whether in a chemical manufacturing plant or a mining refinery is highly dangerous. Thousands of chemicals blend and fuse, releasing harmful gases. While the machinery can still survive, humans are the ones who need to take precautions. Factually, it is expected that humans spend 90% of their time indoors. It is this air that they constantly grasp and inhale.

Of all the major gases, the ones that primarily are part of chemical plants constitute CO, SO2, CO2, NH3, CH4, VOCs, LPG, H2, etc. It is, therefore, necessary to manage and monitor the quality of air between closed space, ensuring that you aren't inhaling anything hazardous. In fact, monitoring the gas emissions within industrial plants stand a matter of huge importance, today.

While anything done manually is prone to errors and mishaps, experts recommend the adoption of Smart Air Quality Monitoring Devices. These are ideally based on the technology of IoT and enable monitoring as well as control of significant gas proportions in the air.

The IoT-driven indoor air quality measuring devices consist of a device named Smart Air, which is aided with the task of sensing the air quality. You can take help of SSLA for its development and installation. The device is intermittently connected to a web server that communicates with the same and distributes information. Since the device is cloud-based, it can be installed anywhere, anytime to detest the air quality. The data is transmitted to the server using the LTE Modem Stack.

In total, the entire system is composed of LTE Modem stack, Pollution detection sensors and a microcontroller. All of these aid testifying the concentrations of significant gasses along with monitoring the temperature-humidity to assess the overall quality of the air indoor.

Step 1: ​Why the Need of Air Quality Checking Device

With the proliferation of a number of industries and organizations, the air quality seems to deteriorate and fall below the threshold. Whether it is within an enclosed space or an open plot, the air quality seems to worsen everywhere. Apart from the pollution driven by vehicles, gas emissions from manufacturing plants to add to the falling air quality.

It is proven that inhaling low-quality air has a disastrous impact on the life of users, threatening their existence. Given the above, it is important to keep track of the severity of the population, not quality figures and then, take up measures to deal with it.

As per a study done by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the contamination rate of indoor air is nearly 100 times more as compared to the outside air. Not to mention the fact that 80-90% of the time is spent working indoors and hence, a poor quality environment enlays a significant impact on the health of the workers. These can easily walk down the respiratory system getting transmitted to the lungs and causing harm to the health and living of the workers.

Smart Air Quality system, built in the consideration of the above, is nothing but a proactive measure to promote the efficient monitoring and control of indoor air quality. With real-time monitoring capabilities, the said system facilitates smarter monitoring with accurate results.

Step 2: ​How Does This Work?

A Smart-Air Monitoring Device is designed to offer accurate as well as reliable data pertinent with the air quality. In order to facilitate instant monitoring of diverse areas, the device is made both customizable and flexible. A range of sensors can be attached and installed onto the device to map the needs and adjust in a given environment. Additionally, a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) modem is used to aid the transmission of detected data.

Put simply, the modem is mounted on the device to accelerate the connectivity with the webserver. This server can then classify and visualize the air quality, depending on the gathered data. While few platforms emphasize on the usage of data loggers or gateway to collect and share data remotely to the dedicated web server, modern-day systems are with a microcontroller that can do the job of data collection from the sensors and then, with the help of LTE modem, transmit the same to the webserver.

This eliminates the need for data loggers making the system more efficient and effective. Not to mention that LTE modems are robust and come with added security layers of embedded solutions. What adds to the choice is that these are mobile communication terminal devices and equipped with vast network coverage. Organizations using the LTE modem can be assured of the accuracy and efficiency of the data gathered, improving the overall effectiveness of the sensors.

In the end, it is a win-win for all!