Mobile-integrated IoT system for early warning of carbon monoxide in home industries

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) exposure poses a significant occupational safety risk in home-industry environments due to incomplete fuel combustion and inadequate ventilation. Conventional CO detection systems are often expensive, offer limited remote monitoring capabilities, and rely solely on passive warning systems, reducing their suitability for small-scale industries. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a low-cost internet of things (IoT)-based CO mitigation system integrated with a mobile application for continuous monitoring and automated ventilation control. A research and development (R&D) approach employing the waterfall development model was adopted to design, implement, validate, and deploy the proposed system. The prototype incorporated a carbon monoxide gas sensor (MQ-7), an ESP8266 microcontroller, the Blynk cloud platform, and an automated exhaust fan controlled according to predefined CO concentration thresholds. Experimental validation demonstrated that the system consistently detected hazardous CO concentrations, maintained stable wireless communication, and responded rapidly to changing environmental conditions. The developed prototype also successfully transmitted smartphone notifications, activated automatic ventilation based on CO concentration levels, and achieved high user acceptance in terms of usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, satisfaction, and maintenance readiness. Overall, the findings demonstrate that integrating environmental sensing, cloud-based communication, automated mitigation, and user-centred evaluation within a low-cost IoT architecture provides an effective and practical framework for improving occupational safety in home-industry environments.