Artificial intelligence, drones to fight pollution; CAQM okays 7 projects

The Centre's air quality panel on Thursday said it has approved seven projects which involve the use of drones for real-time air quality monitoring and artificial intelligence for counting of vehicles.

Other projects include installation of air purification systems in a market place in Delhi and retrofitting air cleaners in buses.

The projects are under supervision of different technical and academic institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said in a statement.

CAQM has decided to tap the technical/academic expertise of the reputed scientific institutions working in the field of air pollution for a joint and augmented approach towards prevention, control and abatement of the menace of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, it said.

The approved projects will focus on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tool for counting of vehicles, addressing vehicular traffic-induced road dust re-suspension with action plans based on science and technology, autonomous drone swarm framework for real-time air quality monitoring, decision support system for air quality management in Delhi and bordering districts, ambient air purification system in a market place, among others.