How Can AI and IoT Make Indian Cities Breathable by Addressing Air Pollution?

How can AI and IoT combat air pollution and make cities breathable in India?

As people say artificial intelligence will be taking over the world. Taking it positively, we can say that AI is taking over the harmful aspects of the world. Today's AI and IoT have the potential to provide solutions to many real-life problems. One of the problems requiring urgent attention, where AI can demonstrably make an impact, is combating air pollution.

When we think of air pollution, the first city that comes to mind is Delhi followed by Mumbai, Patna, Gwalior, and so on. Mainly in Delhi air pollution is a constant problem and it has become a dreadful issue as the AQI (Air Quality Index) goes from poor to worse with every passing day.

Today, the evolution of modern technologies with advancements in AI and IoT has the potential to help address air pollution. It can help in identifying the source of air pollution, develop policies, forecast, and thus can help in problem-solving.

Measure and Monitor

AI can help in measuring air pollution. According to the Greenpeace report, 22 out of 30 world's most polluted cities are in India. As per directions, India requires a minimum of 4000 air controlling stations to monitor the air quality.

There are roughly 160 air controlling stations existing today in India. This indicates that India has an inadequate number of air controlling stations.

Detailed evaluation of air quality is highly required which not only includes combining current air monitoring infrastructure with satellite data but also includes human activities such as traffic, garbage burning, construction, industrial source allocation, and population density. Here, AI can be implemented to utilize the above factors to correctly evaluate a geospatial interpolation of air quality data. This approach will provide a circulated coverage of high resolution in real-time.

Evaluate and Analyze

In Delhi, the number of air controlling stations has increased in recent years. This helps in identifying the sources of air pollution within a few parts of the capital. AI can further be used to forecast the growth and reduction of air pollution by understanding the sources of pollution.

For instance, the controlling and monitoring stations can check the source of the pollution whether it is from industrial production or vehicles. These decisions further could be evaluated and computed by AI which will enable us to take proper actions.

AI can also aid in modeling the chemical reactions between pollutants. Algorithms like Atmospheric Transport Modelling System (ATMoS) help understand PM2.5 concentrations.

Besides, there are modern algorithms that help in comprehending and predicting smog, haze, visibility, and observe meteorological interventions as well as control air quality better.

Action & Intervention

Air pollution in India results in serious health issues and also decreases the quality of life.

A broad-scale of anthropogenic air pollution from various sources has resulted in an increase in the levels of air pollution, leading to a significant downturn in existing air quality.

AI can assist in finding the way for the existing pollution baseline concerning personal health indicators and thus can take actions as per requirement.

To date, various methods have been used to control the air quality but none have triumphed to an acceptable level of accuracy. This is where technology enters. AI and IoT can serve with location-specific real-time environmental data and useful insights to industries, businesses, and human beings to diminish the effects of air pollution and make cities breathable in India.