Now, a desi system for real-time air quality monitoring

NEW DELHI: India has developed a real-time air quality monitoring system which will end the country's dependence on imported systems.

Costing nearly one-fourth of the imported systems, this indigenous one-called AUM (Air Unique-quality Monitoring) - can simultaneously capture 21 air quality parameters round the clock.

It has already been tested at two locations in Bengaluru under the watch of officials of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Karnataka state pollution control board.

"AUM was successfully evaluated during laboratory trials with gold standard (in collaboration with EffecTech, UK) and also compared well with imported systems from France and Australia," said science & technology minister Harsh Vardhan.

He said this system can boost the nation's efforts towards self-reliance in high-end technologies.

The system has been developed by Rao Tatavarti, director of Gayatri Vidya Parishad-Scientific and Industrial Research Centre (GVP-SIRC) & GVP College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam, with the support from the science & technology ministry's Clean Air Research initiative. A former DRDO senior scientist, Tatavarti was supported by P Arulmozhivarman from the School of Electrical Engineering , VIT University, Vellore, and other team members.