Geo-Environmental Monitoring Station (EMGA): Real-Time Environmental Monitoring Device Using Low-Cost Sensors for Urban Environments

Abstract

Human impact on the environmental conditions of urban areas translates into increased pollution and a decline in the quality of life for residents. To understand how environmental conditions change over time and space, and their relationship to human activity, it is essential to have equipment that can monitor these conditions in real time. To address this need, the Geo-Environmental Monitoring Station (EMGA, for its acronym in Spanish ) and its data management, storage, visualization, and download platform were developed. This device, designed and programmed at the Laboratorio de Paleomagnetismo y Magnetismo de Rocas of the Institute of Geosciences at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), allows for real-time environmental monitoring in urban environments, facilitating the analysis of the impact of human activities on environmental conditions. EMGA stations are capable of measuring eight different variables in real time using low-cost sensors: air quality (particulate matter PM_2.5, PM_1.0, and PM₁₀), temperature (ºC), atmospheric pressure, relative humidity (%), ambient noise (μPa), and variations in the intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field (μT). The data collected by the sensors is transmitted to the visualization platform every four minutes, allowing access from any computer or mobile device. The information obtained from EMGA stations enables the development and adaptation of low-cost environmental monitoring networks, facilitating the analysis of environmental conditions in urban areas over time and space.