Environmental Monitoring using CanSat

In this research study, a CanSat has been used to test the air quality by measuring the presence of harmful CO and CO2 gases produced by the road vehicles in a 100m vertical air column, at various locations across the state of Sharjah and Al-Ain city, United Arab Emirates (UAE). A CanSat is simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can. The payload of the CanSat used in this paper consisted of a GPS sensor, an Ardusat space board (including sensors for temperature, infrared, luminosity, magnetometer, accelerometer, and a gyroscope), air quality sensor detection module and carbon monoxide gas sensor module. The data collection has been performed at different areas considering the type of road vehicles associated with that area such as large trucks/trailers in industrial area, school busses in schools' area etc. Data collection has also been performed by considering the time of day and vary from rush hours to normal traffic hours. Results show that the concentration of CO2/CO is significantly higher in rush hours and around school areas due to the high amount of traffic during early morning rush hours. It has been observed that the highest averages and peak value of air pollutants are found in the school area while open water provides the best air quality among all locations which are used in this study. In general, the measured air quality near congested roads is much worse compared to an area away from main traffic roads. In addition, altitude-based presence of CO2/CO, after their release from the road vehicles, has also been recorded and analyzed.