Existence of Toxic gases in huge dump yards and landfills has become a major concern in urban pockets. It leads to a lot of health issues, environment pollution and overall ecosystem damage. In order to address this problem we have come up with a solution of identifying or detecting the prevalence of toxic gases in these landfills. We propose to identify poisonous gases like Methane, Hydrogen Sulphide, Carbon Monoxide, Ammonia etc through an array of gas sensors integrated with Intel FPGA as the processor. Our target segment will be huge landfills and dump yards. We prefer to use Intel FPGA due to its parallel processing capabilities, extendable interfaces with several I/O ports, and high performance computing facility even with complex algorithms.

Project Proposal

1. High-level project introduction and performance expectation

Introduction

The existence of Toxic gases in huge dump yards and landfills has become a major concern in urban pockets.  It leads to a lot of health issues, environmental pollution, and overall ecosystem damage. In order to address this problem, we have come up with a solution of identifying or detecting the prevalence of toxic gases in these landfills. We propose to identify poisonous gases like Methane, Hydrogen Sulphide, Carbon Monoxide, Ammonia etc through an array of gas sensors integrated with Intel FPGA as the processor. Our target segment will be huge landfills and dump yards. We prefer to use Intel FPGA due to its parallel processing capabilities, extendable interfaces with several I/O ports, and high-performance computing facility even with complex algorithms.

Performance Expectation:

1. Identification of the following poisonous gases.
   1. Methane
   2. Hydrogen Sulphide
   3. Carbon Monoxide
   4. Ammonia
2. Monitoring the presence and quantity of various gases continuously.
3. Prediction of garbage quality in terms of odour and gases being emanated.
4. Alarming the system for alerting the presence of poisonous gases.

2. Block Diagram

Block Diagram

3. Expected sustainability results, projected resource savings

 Expected sustainability results, projected resource savings

• Our solution focuses on detecting gases like Methane, Sulphides, Carbon Monoxide, Ammonia by using a series of MQ gas sensors that can detect these gases. Once any of these gases reach a harmful threshold limit an alarm will be triggered. Further real-time data of gas concentrations will be sent to the cloud for high-level analysis and decision-making.

4. Design Introduction

Design Introduction

• We propose to identify poisonous gases like Methane, Hydrogen Sulphide, Carbon Monoxide, Ammonia etc through an array of gas sensors integrated with Intel FPGA as the processor. Our target segment will be huge landfills and dump yards. We prefer to use Intel FPGA since it has less processing time with improved accuracy and efficiency of the algorithms. 

5. Functional description and implementation

Functional description and implementation

• MQ sensors can detect the presence of gases from 300 ppm - 10,000 ppm. Hence setting up these sensors in a distributed manner throughout the landfill region will ensure proper capture of gases. Each gas sensor will be coupled with an alarm fitted on a vertical pole. The Intel FPGA will be the heart of this system which manages the control flow, computations and is also responsible for feeding the real-time data to the cloud.

The following is a list of a few MQ sensors available commercially.

• MQ-2 Methane, Butane, LPG, Smoke
• MQ-3 Alcohol, Ethanol, Smoke
• MQ-4 Methane, CNG Gas
• MQ-5 Natural gas, LPG
• MQ-7 Carbon Monoxide
• MQ-9 Carbon Monoxide, flammable gasses
• MQ135 Air Quality
• MQ137 Ammonia
• MQ309A Carbon Monoxide, flammable gas

6. Performance metrics, performance to expectation

Performance metrics, performance to expectation

• We expect to feed the data to the cloud every 30 minutes in order to efficiently monitor the existence of toxic gas in the surrounding environment. Once any of the toxic gas is released the sensor detects its presence and indicates it through an alarm. Since we are using a series of MQ sensors, the probability of a specific gas being unmonitored is very low, thereby improving our efficiency.

7. Sustainability results, resource savings achieved

 Sustainability results

The main results or impact that is being foreseen from this project are:

1. Tracking the quality and odour of garbage reduces the problem-to-solution time.
2. The impact of poisonous gases in the environment and neighborhood can be eliminated particularly in urban areas.
3. By monitoring improper/illegal industrial or clinical waste dumping in the domestic dump yard area, necessary immediate actions can be taken.
4. Health impact of the people (ecosystem) surrounding the dump yard.

Resource Saving Achieved

1. Immediate monitoring and tracking avoid illegal industrial/clinical waste disposal which leads to poisonous gases.
2. Tracking the various gas concentrations and thereby proposing strategies to reduce waste disposal.

8. Conclusion

Conclusion

The dump yard monitoring system is the need of urban or rural areas and the population and the amount of garbage being disposed of is increasing drastically.

It's time to take immediate action to save the ecosystem and mankind with the help of technology.