Hello,
I am trying to build IoT based air quality detector. I am a noob and don't have any knowledge of electronics. I am trying to figure out what hardware to buy.
I want to measure 3 gases : nitrogen dioxide(No2), ground ozone layer(O3) and particulate matter(PM 2.5 and PM 10).
I am trying to achieve the following:
To collect data from the 3 sensors and calculate air quality health index and than send to the internet. Air quality health index will be later displayed on either a web page or mobile app.
I am thinking of buying Arduino Uno R3. I have come across the following sensors and wifi module which are Arduino compatible
Mics 2714(No2)
MQ 131(O3)
SPS30(Particulate Matter Sensor)
Esp8266 Wifi Module
I don't understand how I am going to connect this sensors to the Arduino board.
What would be easier for me to buy just the sensors or should I buy the sensors module because I don't know anything about soldering or using breadboards.
Also, what is the difference between just the sensor vs sensor shield vs sensor module?
I am attached screenshots of items I am thinking of buying.
Please let me know what other items I will need to make everything work.
I would go for sensor modules, with all the supporting hardware in place. That's by far the easiest, at least you know they're easy to work with. The bare senors become only interesting when you want to start building your own PCB or so.
Drop the Arduino & ESP-01, get yourself a NodeMCU or WeMOS D1 Mini board. That saves another few headaches in communication and so. The ESP8266 processor is more than capable enough to handle a few sensor readings while serving your web pages and sending it to a database or whatever it has to do with the network.
So I should buy NodeMCU which comes with the wifi module and then look for three sensor modules to measure those 3 gases.
Yes NodeMCU has ESP12 WiFi chip which is much more powerful than an Atmega328p chip present in Arduino. Having WiFi in the NodeMCU will make things easier to transmit the ppm values.
And you should choose sensor modules that have all the necessary supporting discrete components and you can directly connect it to an Arduino. Much less hassle.
The nitrogen dioxide NO2 gas sensor MiCS 2714 is a replacement for the older version 2710. Its screenshot (Screenshot_20190620-155823.png) which you have linked is only the chip in a Surface Mount Design (SMD) package. You should instead go for breakout boards like this which give you all the pins along with necessary resistors
Or you could go for another well known gas sensor which has MiCS 6814 to detect NO2
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254270896540
The other 2 sensor modules for Particulate Matter PM and Ozone O3 seem fine.
