Air Quality Sensors Measuring Air Pollution Indoor & Outdoor

Posted by Gyane on February 15th, 2021

Air pollution sensors are devices that monitor the presence of air pollution in the surrounding area. They can be used for both indoor and outdoor environments. These sensors can be built at home, or bought from certain manufactures. 

The air quality sensor is part of the air conditioning system. It measures pollutants, in the form of oxidisable or reducible gases, in the air outside your car. Oxidisable gases include carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons (vapours from benzene or petrol) and other partially burnt fuel components.

Low-cost air pollution sensors are attracting more and more attention. They offer air pollution monitoring at a lower cost than conventional methods, in theory making air pollution monitoring possible in many more locations. Too good to be true? At the current stage of development, unfortunately we have to conclude yes. Measurements with low-cost sensors are often of lower and more questionable data quality than the results from official monitoring stations carried out by EU Member States in accordance with European legislation and international standards methods. If the quality of the measurements can be improved, sensors could become a game changer in monitoring air pollution, traffic management, personal exposure and health assessment, citizen science and air pollution assessment in developing countries. This brochure explains our current understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of current sensors. Technological progress will hopefully change the picture of this summary in the next few years. It is also a plea to evaluate and validate sensors with field and laboratory tests in order to understand the meaning of and uncertainties in their signals.

Regardless of whether you are measuring inside or outside, there are two major categories of pollution that consumer sensors can monitor: 1) particulate matter, and/or 2) gases. While there is a much wider range and components of airborne pollutants (mold, bacteria and more), each with different health implications, these are the two categories that most consumer sensors currently can monitor.