Low-Cost sensors for urban air quality monitoring: preliminary laboratory and in-field tests within the TECNAIRE-CM project

Low-cost sensor technology can potentially make revolutionary changes in our current air pollution monitoring paradigm in urban areas. However, the widespread adoption of low-cost sensor technology is still not feasible due to a number of limitations regarding sensitivity, accuracy and comparability. In this study we report the results from preliminary laboratory and in-field tests carried out within the TECNAIRE-cM project for commercial NO
₂
and O
₃
sensors including both, solid-state and electrochemical technologies. The ultimate goal is to understand the current capabilities of this technology and the prospects to incorporate it in both research and routine measurement or urban air quality. We found significant performance differences although none of the devices tested could provide satisfactory results in real-world conditions. We conclude that unit-specific advanced statistical calibration methods are needed to obtain reliable results with the low cost sensors devices in urban areas.