Exploring Indoor Air Quality Dynamics in Developing Nations: A Perspective from India

TL;DR

This study investigates indoor air pollution in Indian households, revealing pollution patterns and introducing DALTON, an IoT platform that effectively monitors and identifies pollution hotspots to improve indoor air quality.

Contribution

The paper presents the first extensive empirical field study on indoor air quality in Indian households and introduces DALTON, a cost-effective IoT platform tailored for developing nations.

Findings

VOCs linger longer indoors, affecting air quality.

Air circulation significantly influences pollutant distribution.

DALTON effectively identifies pollution hotspots.

Abstract

Indoor air pollution is a major issue in developing countries such as India and Bangladesh, exacerbated by factors like traditional cooking methods, insufficient ventilation, and cramped living conditions, all of which elevate the risk of health issues like lung infections and cardiovascular diseases. With the World Health Organization associating around 3.2 million annual deaths globally to household air pollution, the gravity of the problem is clear. Yet, extensive empirical studies exploring these unique patterns and indoor pollutions extent are missing. To fill this gap, we carried out a six months long field study involving over 30 households, uncovering the complexity of indoor air pollution in developing countries, such as the longer lingering time of VOCs in the air or the significant influence of air circulation on the spatiotemporal distribution of pollutants. We introduced an innovative IoT air quality sensing platform, the Distributed Air QuaLiTy MONitor (DALTON ), explicitly designed to meet the needs of these nations, considering factors like cost, sensor type, accuracy, network connectivity, power, and usability. As a result of a multi-device deployment, the platform identifies pollution hot-spots in low and middle-income households in developing nations. It identifies best practices to minimize daily indoor pollution exposure. Our extensive qualitative survey estimates an overall system usability score of 2.04, indicating an efficient system for air quality monitoring.