Application of wireless sensor networks to environmental monitoring for sustainable mobility

This paper presents a project idea for an innovative public transport system that may contribute to increase sustainable mobility and reduce the environmental impacts of transports. The proposed system is based on the use of low-emission small vehicles following flexible routes, which will be adapted in real time so to satisfy the customer requests, considering traffic congestion and availability of other transport services. The user will require the ride through a mobile application, which gives his/her location, and the system will provide the service considering all users' requests, vehicle availability, intermodal opportunities and traffic congestion. To implement this system, it is crucial to have real-time information on vehicle positions, other public transit supply, traffic and environmental conditions. Therefore, a distributed sensor network monitoring the environment is a fundamental component of the project. This paper focuses on the monitoring system that should be implemented so to obtain all real-time information necessary to guarantee a sustainable mobility in accordance with the project objectives. In particular, a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) will be used to gather real-time traffic and environmental data to build descriptive and predictive models to plan the best routes in order to reduce road congestion and consequently urban pollution. The paper is developed in the context of the NETCHIP research project, which has been submitted to Italian PNR 2015-2020, Call n. 1735 of the 13th July 2017.