Hello everyone. Asutosh here. I’m working on Vaayu, an open-source air quality monitoring device aimed at making hyperlocal pollution data accessible in India.
Here’s the problem: a mother in Koramangala, Bangalore checks the AQI before taking her child to the park. The app shows 85 (Moderate) which seems fine. But that reading comes from a CPCB station in BTM Layout, 4 kilometers away. The actual AQI at her park, next to an ongoing construction project, could be 160 (Unhealthy). She has no way to know. The infrastructure to tell her doesn’t exist. Delhi has 40 stations for 30+ million people. Bangalore has a handful for 13 million. Air quality varies 50-100+ AQI points within 500 meters of a construction site, yet we’re all making health decisions based on readings from kilometers away. Vaayu is an attempt to fix this. The device uses an ESP32-C3, PMS5003 particulate sensor, and BME280 for environmental corrections, targeting a build cost around ₹5,000 (~$60). The key feature is auto-calibration against India’s CPCB government API - during setup, the device compares its readings against the nearest government station and learns its specific correction factor automatically. Everything will be fully open-source: hardware designs, firmware, enclosure files, and documentation. The goal is something people can actually build themselves, not a product. Still in early development (prototyping phase), but sharing in case others are interested in contributing or have tackled similar problems.
GitHub: GitHub - 61-Keys/vaayu