'Low-cost' Sensors for Measuring Gaseous and Particle Air Pollutants: Performance Results from Three Years of AQ-SPEC Field and Laboratory Testing and Network Applications at the Fenceline and Community Level

摘要

Because of recent technological advancements in the areas of electrical engineering and wireless networking, manufacturers have recently begun marketing "low-cost" air monitoring sensors to measure air pollution in real-time (e.g. seconds to minutes). Considering how fast this type of technology is evolving, it is likely that the type and numbers of these sensors will substantially increase in the near future. These devices, assuming they produce reliable data, can significantly augment and improve current ambient air monitoring capabilities that predominantly rely on the more sophisticated and expensive federal-reference or federal-equivalent methods (FRM and FEM, respectively) operating at fixed sites. Given their low cost, these sensors are becoming an attractive means for local environmental groups and individuals to independently evaluate air quality. This new approach is receiving acknowledgement from U.S. EPA and may shift air monitoring towards a different paradigm in which traditional monitoring by air quality agencies is supplemented by community-based monitoring using "low-cost" sensors.