One of the preeminent engineering colleges in the country, IIT Kanpur, on Thursday entered into a partnership with Swedish telecom equipment maker, Ericsson, to deploy Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) to monitor air pollution levels in Delhi.
“With support from Ericsson, we will develop and deploy India’s first NB -IoT based low cost particulate matter sensors at multiple locations across Delhi”, S. Tripathi, Head of Department, Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur, said in a statement. “The collection and analysis of this data can be of crucial help in addressing the menace of air pollution”, he said.
As part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU), Ericsson will use locally-developed air quality sensors that are capable of sharing environmental data including PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 levels at defined time intervals, leading to better monitoring and analysis of data collected from different parts of the capital. The findings will be shared with local authorities and other key stakeholders on a periodic basis, said the report.
“The sensors are automated and will relay information on defined time intervals, providing data on pollution levels, sources and locations in a sustainable and cost-efficient way”, said Nitin Bansal, Head of Ericsson India.
With pollution levels in Delhi reaching stratospheric levels every winter, policy makers need to be more proactive to make the country’s capital a cleaner, greener and less harrowing place to live in. However, given that the city is routinely ranked as one of the most polluted metros around the world, it will be interested to see if this initiative will result in any actual change on the ground.
With inputs from IANS
