Low-Cost IoT for Urban Slum Environmental Monitoring in Malawi: A Comparative Study

Urban slums in Malawi face significant environmental challenges such as water contamination and air pollution, which are exacerbated by limited access to reliable monitoring systems. The study employed a comparative design involving two IoT-based environmental sensors deployed in different slums. Data collection was through daily readings from the sensors over three months. Sensor readings indicated significant variations in ambient temperature and humidity between the two sites, with one site showing an average deviation of 2°C compared to baseline data. The comparative analysis revealed that while both sensor types provided useful environmental insights, they exhibited varying degrees of accuracy and reliability. Future studies should prioritise more robust sensors and continuous monitoring to improve the efficacy of IoT solutions for urban slum environments. IoT, Low-cost Sensors, Environmental Monitoring, Urban Slums, Malawi Model estimation used θ̂=argminθ∑ᵢ(yᵢ,f_θ(xᵢ))+λθ₂², with performance evaluated using out-of-sample error.