Iot System for Air Pollutants Assessment in Underground Infrastructures
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IoT System for Air Pollutants Assessment in Underground Infrastructures George Suciu Mihaela Balanescu Carmen Nadrag R&D R&D R&D BEIA Consult International BEIA Consult International BEIA Consult International Bucharest, Romania Bucharest, Romania Bucharest, Romania [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Andrei Birdici Cristina Mihaela Balaceanu Marius Alexandru Dobrea R&D R&D R&D BEIA Consult International BEIA Consult International BEIA Consult International Bucharest, Romania Bucharest, Romania Bucharest, Romania [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Adrian Pasat Radu-Ioan Ciobanu R&D Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers BEIA Consult International University Politehnica of Bucharest Bucharest, Romania Bucharest, Romania [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT friendly perspective. Also, it diminishes the negative effects on the health of the population, by reducing the emissions generated by This paper describes an IoT system capable of capturing car traffic. In addition, by limiting congestion and providing vital information about hazardous working environments and analyzes transport links in a city, the usage of subways also improves the the health risks associated with increased air pollution. The case overall quality of urban communities. Although all these benefices, study regards the underground transportation systems, which are the increased air pollutants concentrations from underground key components in commuting networks of large cities, providing environment ([2], [3], [4], [5]) had a negative effect on human fast and affordable transport for urban communities. First, a risk health, [6]. The main pollutant is represented by particulate matter analysis of the categories of people working in this space or (PM) which may be associated with an increased risk of commuting through the city using the subway was performed. carcinogenicity and non-cancer health effects considering their Furthermore, the situation in other similar environments and the metal rich composition, [6]. However, in order to maximize the main sources of pollution was analyzed. By designing and positive impact on the urban environment, underground transport implementing a WSN system could be managed to gather air systems must ensure a safe and healthy environment for both quality data and process the sensors measurements. The passengers and workers in this system. experimental results consist of a predictive model of PMs emissions which can aid in mitigating air pollution. The main objective of the paper is describing the system capable of capturing information about these work environments, the health of workers and even the network infrastructure deployed in these KEYWORDS environments, in order to analyses and present this information, and thus having more information about the environments of railway Air Quality, IoT, railway metro system, PMs emissions metro system and the workers, as well as helping in the Data Driven Decision Making, ensuring and thus improving the safety within 1 Introduction these hazardous operating environments (not just physical security The underground transportation systems are key components in but also the network security). commuting networks of large cities, providing fast and affordable transport for urban communities. For example, Bucharest metro Despite the scientific and technical efforts to connect to everything network ensure (in 2017) the daily transit of over 600000 people that is happening in the field of mobile communications research, representing around 25% of total city inhabitants, [1]. there is still a need for agile and reliable solutions in hazardous industrial environments. Within this paper, a solution will be The benefits of metro transportation are numerous and are mainly developed in order to design a wireless communication system in driven by the reduction of car use, which leads to an environment- underground environments (railway metro system). The goal is to reduce air pollution exposure by using various types of Internet-of- In a different study the authors describe the air quality in the main Things (IoT) sensors that can capture data from this environment. metro station in Rome from the point of view of PM concentration. Various indoor and outdoor environments have been studied and 2 Related Work compared. Also, the paper highlights the influence of the air The metro system infrastructures and operation condition varied conditioning over the air quality of an indoor environment and significantly worldwide and the focus of air research work. A first compares the results obtained with the gravimetric procedure and study was performed in Newark, U.S and was focused on chemical the optical particle counter methods [10]. composition of PM and source emissions identification (traffic, A study conducted in 4 different metro stations in Athens provided power plants, incineration, braking operations and track-wheel a comparison of the air quality depending on the type of ventilation abrasion), [7]. Since then more studies were performed in all the implemented in the locations (natural ventilation or using air- continents. In general, the air research studies start with conditioning). The measurements were made continuously using identification of chemical species and measurements of air portable devices and the results also depended on how deep and pollutants concentrations. The primary air pollutants identified in how crowded the subway station is [11]. the in the metro air were PM, aromatic hydrocarbons, carbonyls and airborne bacteria, [8]. Must be noted that, in general the PM 3 Methods concentration in metro are higher than the those in outside The main pollutants identified in the literature inside the environments, [8]. For example, in Stockholm the PM underground areas are represented by PMx (particulate matter with concentration were 5 to 10 times higher than those measured at the diameter less than x µm) and gaseous pollutants (Volatile Organic most crowded streets [9]. Also, the research studies investigate the Compounds – VOC, nitrogen dioxide – NO2, carbon monoxide – influence of ventilation on metro air quality and develop measures CO, carbon dioxide - CO2, etc), [8]. Their concentrations vary to reduce air pollutant concentrations, [8]. depending on the degree of ventilation of the interior spaces as well In Beijing’s metro stations variations of PM concentrations as the temperature and humidity levels. appeared periodically with the trains arriving in the station, which The establishment of the most representative location to install the was caused by the piston wind effect produced by the train. measurement equipment in the Bucharest underground Measurements were also made inside the train that showed a transportation network is based on a risk analysis of the categories considerable fluctuation of PM2.5 from 220 µg/m³ to 370 µg/m³ of people working in this space or commuting through the city when the door opened. A total of 8 different rooms were measured using the subway (Table 1). The analysis includes identifying the in the working areas of the subway of which only 3 of them were exposure area, the risk factors associated with both the environment equipped with a ventilation system while another was closed. The and the type of activity being carried out, and the exposure time. measurement took place in a lightly polluted day and concluded The employees number working at the location of the with a higher concentration of PM pollution than the one outside, communications center varies between 3-5 people. Also, the the highest contaminated rooms were the ones with the poor categories of persons considered for the analysis are represented by ventilation while the closed room had the lowest PM concentration. passengers, system maintenance workers and qualified personnel PM2.5 to PM average ratio was 79.6% outside the subway while in 10 in the communication or command centers. the underground locations it was at 68.7% [2]. TABLE 1. HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ANALYSIS Studies have shown that the concentrations of PM measured in railway metro systems are considerably higher than the values Risk Exposed individuals measured at the street level, mainly due to mechanical processes of Factors Passengers Workers Qualified employees the trains. Therefore, experiments were conducted in order to Exposure Staying in and Stations, Communication analyze the air quality improvement in the case of using high- area going through tunnels Centers, Command quality materials and solutions for the metro system [3]. metro stations Centers Type of Light physical Intense Static positions In addition to this, researchers have investigated the evolution of physical activity or physical generating PM10 pollution levels in a new section of a metro line in Italy activity static position activity for pain/musculoskeletal compared to the values measured in a subway line section which short periods disorders. had been used for a longer period. The results for the two areas were of time Light physical activity for short comparable from a statistical point of view, as the pollutants were periods of time. transferred from the old section to the new one due to the piston Duration Waiting time in Maximum 8 8 hours per day effect [4]. of subway hours per day, activity/ stations and depending on Another study identified street traffic as being the pollution source exposure transit between the repair and with particles of dimensions