Sensor Networks with Edge Intelligence for Reliable Air Quality Monitoring in the Covid-19 Era

Rapid advancements in affordable, miniaturised air pollution sensor technologies offer the potential to capture the high variability of personal exposure to air pollution during daily life with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. However, concerns remain regarding the suitability of these novel technologies for scientific and policy purposes due to their lack of reliability. The aim of this work is the development of three types of portable air quality devices that monitor particulate matter, differential pressure and outdoor emissions (CO, CO2, O3 and VOCs) with high reliability using low-cost sensors and communicating measurements to the cloud in real time. Reliability is strengthened in all three places: at the sensor level, the device/edge level and at the cloud, cashing data until network connectivity is restored. In order to evaluate their efficiency, two case studies were deployed: (a) in a modern industrial setting and (b) in an IT office space in Greece and the findings are reported.