Molodets B. Development of technologies and software for operational air quality monitoring

Molodets B.V. development of technologies and software for operational air quality monitoring. – Qualifying scientific work as a manuscript. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in specialty 121 Software Engineering – Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Dnipro, 2024. Modern society is facing a number of serious environmental challenges, which are associated with urgent tasks of preserving ecosystems and protecting human health. One of the most pressing aspects of these challenges is the problem of air pollution, which is a serious threat to public health and the environment. In this regard, the development and improvement of air quality monitoring information systems is of particular importance. The purpose of this work is to investigate, develop, and implement an information system for air quality monitoring in which to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data collection and analysis. The aim of the research is to improve existing monitoring methods and develop new technological solutions to provide more accurate measurement of air quality indicators. The first section provides a comprehensive analysis of existing technologies, systems, and research studies related to the development of technologies and software for operational air quality monitoring. As a result of the review of existing software, a list of issues that need to be resolved is formed. As a result, the requirements for the information system are formed. The second section is devoted to the analysis of air quality assessment models, describing their advantages and disadvantages, describing the method of improving the performance of assessment models and the data which will be used in the modeling process. As a result of the analysis, it is chosen to use the CALPUFF model in combination with the IDW method. That allows to consider the spatial dependence of pollutant concentrations, especially in areas with limited or no monitoring, and to improve the quality of the assessment. The third section describes the technologies and architectural solutions used by the information system. Data exchange protocols, network protocol architectures, software architectures, and cloud service providers are compared. The Docker container manager and the OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol are considered. The chosen solution is described as a service-oriented architecture and REST (Representational State Transfer) network protocol architecture. The fourth section is about the practical application of the developed system. It describes the technology stack on which the system is written. It explains the schemes of interaction of the system components with each other and the user with the system by using UML diagrams. The failure rate and request duration during stress testing of the system are given. The percentage of users who will be able to access the developed system is indicated. The schemes of the models and the results of their work are presented. The summary highlights the results of the work that has been carried out, marking out the main scientific and practical achievements of the author in the development of an air quality monitoring information system. The work has substantial potential for further research and expansion in areas where automation of data collection and processing is important, as well as for building an assessment of air quality. The scientific novelty of the results obtained is as follows: ― the air quality assessment model is improved by combining: a spot assessment of the air condition obtained from ground monitoring stations; a quantitative assessment of the air condition (pollutant emissions) for the region using satellite data; a qualitative assessment in the form of an interpolation map of the air quality index based on data from ground stations; and a refinement of the air condition in selected regions using the CALPUFF model, which provides a comprehensive assessment of air quality in the chosen region; ― for the first time, a system architecture is proposed for aggregation and operational testing of data from ground stations and satellite images, which makes it possible to automate the process of collecting and serializing data for air quality assessment; ― for the first time, an information system was developed that aggregates data from ground monitoring stations, meteorological data, and remote sensing data in real time, which speeds up the process of analyzing air quality. The practical significance of the results obtained lies in the following aspects: ― using the air quality monitoring information system, citizens, government agencies, and organizations will be able to receive information on air quality and sources of air pollution; ― the air quality data visualized by the information system serves as a decision-making tool; ― the information system serves as a data repository to further improve the performance of air quality assessment models.