00:01It is high precision work. When Suman Kumar is out with his surveillance van he
00:07is meticulous. Nothing can be allowed to slip through his fingers. But Suman
00:14Kumar is no secret agent. He's a PhD student at the Indian Institute of
00:19Technology in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and he's not hunting ordinary criminals. His
00:24target sources of harmful air pollution, fine particulate matter measuring 2.5
00:29microns or less.
00:34With sensors we can monitor PM 2.5 and some guises. But with this mobile van, what
00:43instrument we have in this, we can monitor the composition of PM 2.5. With that
00:50composition we do source apportionment and we identify sources around that where
00:56we have deployed the van.
00:59More than 2 million people in India die every year as a result of air pollution. Fine
01:05particle pollution is notoriously high in industrial areas and big cities. What's new
01:12however, is the realization that rural areas have long been affected too. Chaubeipur is
01:18a village not far from Kanpur. Residents say the air here is especially bad in the mornings.
01:25It gets even worse in winter when people light fires to keep warm. It is very difficult to
01:35breathe, especially in the mornings. It doesn't feel like we are breathing the same air as we
01:53do. It is worse when you do physical labor. It is a problem that urgently needs to be tackled. Collecting
02:01data on the pollutants in the air is a first step. We have come to the Indian Institute of
02:06Technology in Kanpur. Here Professor Satchidanand Tripathi heads up the team with the surveillance
02:11van. While not enough to capture the full extent of air pollution, the van is an important part of a
02:20broader monitoring network that the researchers have developed.
02:26Air pollution is a major problem globally and certainly it is also in India. So monitoring
02:34air pollution is one important step towards managing it. Back in 2016, we started working on something
02:43what is called as sensors, which is a very cost effective way to scale up the monitoring footprint.
02:51The team has already put in a lot of work. Over the past few years, the researchers have installed
02:58around 1400 sensors across the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, both in cities and rural areas.
03:06All the data flows back to the Institute. The readings from the sensors, the measurements collected
03:12by the van and additional meteorological information such as wind speeds. Artificial intelligence helps
03:19the researchers collate and analyse the data. The results can then be sent from the Institute
03:24straight to the local authorities.
03:52Local authorities have long been aware that action is needed.
03:55More and more people are suffering health problems caused by air pollution.
04:00All population groups are affected, according to Anirudh Nigam from the IIT Kanpur Health Centre.
04:06He sees the same ailments again and again.
04:09There is asthma, there is pneumonia, there is cancers are being diagnosed in rural part of India.
04:19And when they have been brought to the urban centres, we diagnose it because of the pollution and air pollution.
04:28The urgency of the problem has spurred on the scientists. Here on the Institute's test field,
04:34they are preparing the next 45 sensors for deployment. All of them have to be precisely calibrated
04:40to avoid potential measurement errors. Once deployed, they will measure not just air pollution levels,
04:47but also the humidity and temperature of the ambient air and other data in real time.
04:55There is a small hole in the sensor housing that allows the air to pass through. It sucks the air
05:02in.
05:03Then whatever the pollution is, you can see it in the display screen.
05:09We study the readings to find out where and how high the pollution levels are.
05:13There are some places with very high values, some with lower values, so we get a range of readings.
05:20That's why we install them across the entire district.
05:26The goal is to expand the monitoring system across large territories.
05:31It's only possible because the sensors that the scientists are deploying are a very low-cost but effective monitoring technology.
05:39Thanks to rapid AI-based analysis, their data provides important decision-making tools for the authorities,
05:45who now need to take action.
05:48Initial ideas already exist.
05:50The scientists' project has just been extended for another three years.
05:56So, the van will continue to cover many kilometers,
05:59tracking down and exposing sources of fine particulate pollution in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
06:08The NASA powericer will be introduced to the
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