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This study presents a fit-for-purpose evaluation of commercially available portable sensor systems, measuring PM, NO2 and/or BC, through extensive lab- and field benchmarking. The main aim of the study is to identify sensor systems that can be used for mobile monitoring by citizens to assess dynamic exposure in ambient air. After an initial literature study and market search resulting in 39 sensor systems, 10 sensor systems were ultimately purchased and benchmarked in laboratory and real-word conditions. We evaluated comparability to reference analyzers, sensor precision and sensitivity to temperature, humidity and O3. Moreover, we evaluated if accuracy can be improved by the lab and field calibration. Because the targeted application of the sensor systems under evaluation is mobile monitoring, we conducted a mobile field test in an urban environment to evaluate the GPS accuracy and potential impacts from vibrations on the resulting sensor signals. Results of the considered sensor systems indicate that out-of-the-box performance is relatively good for PM and BC, but maturity of the tested NO2 sensors is still low and additional efforts are needed in terms of signal noise and calibration. The horizontal accuracy of the build-in GPS was generally good achieving a lt;10m horizontal accuracy for all sensor systems. More accurate and dynamic exposure assessments in contemporary urban environments are crucial to study real-world exposure of individuals and exposome impacts on potential health endpoints. A greater availability of mobile monitoring systems capable of quantifying urban pollutant gradients will further boost this line of research.
Hofman et al. (Fri,) studied this question.