A methodology for the characterization of portable sensors for air quality measure with the goal of deployment in citizen science

Baptiste Languille (1) , Valérie Gros (1, 2) , Nicolas Bonnaire (1, 2) , Clément Pommier (1) , Cécile Honoré (3) , Christophe Debert (3) , Laurent Gauvin (3) , Salim Srairi (4) , Isabella Annesi-Maesano (5) , Basile Chaix (5) , Karine Zeitouni (6)

1 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
2 CAE - Chimie Atmosphérique Expérimentale
3 AIRPARIF - Surveillance de la qualité de l'air en Île-de-France
4 Cerema Direction Ile-de-France - Centre d'Etudes et d'Expertise sur les Risques, l'Environnement, la Mobilité et l'Aménagement - Direction Ile-de-France
5 iPLESP - Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique
6 UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

The field of small air quality sensors is of growing interest within the scientific community, especially because this new technology is liable to improve air pollutant monitoring as well as be used for personal exposure quantification. Amongst the myriad existing devices, the performances are highly variable; this is why the sensors must be rigorously assessed before deployment, according to the intended use. This study is included in the Polluscope project; its purpose is to quantify personal exposure to air pollutants by using portable sensors. This paper designs and applies a methodology for the evaluation of portable air quality sensors to eight devices measuring PM, BC, NO2 and O3. The dedicated testing protocol includes static ambient air measurements compared with reference instruments, controlled chamber and mobility tests, as well as reproducibility evaluation. Three sensors (AE51, Cairclip and Canarin) were retained to be used for the field campaigns. The reliability of their performances were robustly quantified by using several metrics. These three devices (for a total of 36 units) were deployed to be worn by volunteers for a week. The results show the ability of sensors to discriminate between different environments (i.e., cooking, commuting or in an office). This work demonstrates, first, the ability of the three selected sensors to deliver data reliable enough to enable personal exposure estimations, and second, the robustness of this testing methodology.

Keywords: Black carbon; Mobile measurements; Nitrogen oxides; Paris region; Particulate matter; Personal exposure

Domains: Environmental Engineering; Health

Baptiste Languille, Valérie Gros, Nicolas Bonnaire, Clément Pommier, Cécile Honoré, et al.. A methodology for the characterization of portable sensors for air quality measure with the goal of deployment in citizen science. Science of the Total Environment, 2020, 708, pp.134698. ⟨10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134698⟩. ⟨hal-02861698⟩