The system, running with sensing devices with an internet connection, is the product of a group of students – Mai Thi Anh Hong, Tran Bao Khanh, Hoang Phi Hung and Nguyen Manh Hung from the Hanoi Civil Engineering University, under the instruction of lecturer Bui Thanh Phong.

After one year of research, the group has developed three sets of devices for home and office, public areas and production workshops. Each system includes sensors, wifi transceiver modules, microcontrollers, control software programs and mobile apps.

The machines help monitor air quality inside offices, apartments, basements, factories and workshops by measuring the concentration of the agents that have direct influence on human health. The results of the measurement are displayed on smart devices with an internet connection.

The inventor tested the system at a dormitory and apartment building basement. After complete assembly and calibration, the system performed the measurement within 48 hours and obtained relatively accurate results.

Talking about the strong points of the system, Hung said it is compact and convenient, and can be used for households, buildings and offices.

"The product applies IoT (Internet of Things) technology at the system level, with the use of a cloud-computing IoT server system which connects sensing and monitoring devices,” he explained.

According to Bao Khanh, the inventors initially developed prototypes for research and development purposes. To put the system into use in reality, it will be necessary to do the assembling with the components designed to be used in industrial scale.

The inventors made the system that measures CO2, dust, temperature and humidity indoors at the cost of VND1.5 million. However, they affirmed that industrial products will be cheaper.

Asked about further research and commercialization, the students said they will upgrade the mobile apps to obtain new useful features. In addition, they plan to expand the IoT system to use not only for environment sensors, but also for different kinds of devices.

To date, environmental monitoring can be implemented at some monitoring stations with a limited numbers of sensors, while data about environmental situation is accessible only to professional agencies. 

With this system, people can get information about air quality in the places where they live and work.

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