Air pollution is a major problem in cities around the world. It poses a serious threat to human health and the environment. A low-cost sensing infrastructure is essential for real-time monitoring of ambient air quality. We introduce an ultra-low-cost portable sensing device that can monitor multiple air pollutants like NO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> , O <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf> and Particulate Matter (PM). Chronic exposure to these gases causes serious health concerns. We propose to use an integrated microcontroller and a sub-1 GHz transceiver chip to significantly reduce the cost and power consumption of the sensing device. It is a portable device with a small form factor of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$15 \times 11 \times 5$</tex> cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> , costing less than US$ 250 and consuming approx 100 mW of power. The sensing devices equipped with wireless networking capabilities can form a dense network and assist in examining the toxicity of air. 

New Approach of Measuring Toxic Gases Concentrations: Principle of Operation

A Portable Ultra-low-cost Multi-Gas Sensing System-on-Module for Wireless Air Quality Monitoring Network

/pdf/mobile-measurements-of-black-carbon-for-source-apportionment-4jwhxhojxd.pdf

Mobile Measurements of Black Carbon for Source Apportionment Studies

In the Western world, the SO2 concentration in ambient air dropped to low levels, but some emission sources (e.g., merchant ships) and some regions (e.g., low-income countries) still emit substantial amounts of SO2. At those locations, SO2 monitoring is critical. However, low-income countries do not have much access to expensive reference instruments. Low-cost gas sensors might be an alternative, but it is unclear how reliable such measurements are. To evaluate the performance of the low-cost alternative, the same SO2 gas sensor has been subjected to three different calibration methods: (1) low-cost calibration performed in the tropical climate of Cuba; (2) high-end calibration performed in Belgium; (3) a field calibration at an air quality measuring station in Belgium. The first two methods showed similar trends, suggesting that the gas sensor can be calibrated with a low-cost method. The field calibration was hampered by the low SO2 concentrations. For the monitoring campaign in Cienfuegos, Cuba, the low-cost SO2 sensor calibrated by the low-cost method appeared to be sufficiently reliable. The reliability of the sensor increases with the increase in SO2 concentration, so it can be used in Cuba instead of Belgium.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/14/6/912/pdf?version=1684988139

Relevance and Reliability of Outdoor SO2 Monitoring in Low-Income Countries Using Low-Cost Sensors

Air pollution is a major problem in cities around the world. It poses a serious threat to human health and the environment. A low-cost sensing infrastructure is essential for real-time monitoring of ambient air quality. We introduce an ultra-low-cost portable sensing device that can monitor multiple air pollutants like NO2, O3 and Particulate Matter (PM). Chronic exposure to these gases causes serious health concerns. We propose to use an integrated microcontroller and a sub-1 GHz transceiver chip to significantly reduce the cost and power consumption of the sensing device. It is a portable device with a small form factor of $15 \times 11 \times 5$ cm3, costing less than US$ 250 and consuming approx 100 mW of power. The sensing devices equipped with wireless networking capabilities can form a dense network and assist in examining the toxicity of air.

/pdf/new-approach-of-measuring-toxic-gases-concentrations-2qbybcc887.pdf

New Approach of Measuring Toxic Gases Concentrations: Principle of Operation

Citations

A Portable Ultra-low-cost Multi-Gas Sensing System-on-Module for Wireless Air Quality Monitoring Network

Mobile Measurements of Black Carbon for Source Apportionment Studies

Relevance and Reliability of Outdoor SO2 Monitoring in Low-Income Countries Using Low-Cost Sensors

A Portable Ultra-low-cost Multi-Gas Sensing System-on-Module for Wireless Air Quality Monitoring Network

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