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How standardizing ‘low-cost’ air quality monitors will help measure pollution

Nature Reviews Physics volume 5, pages 139–140 (2023)Cite this article

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Inexpensive air quality monitors may open up pollution monitoring to the wider public. What can the physics of measurement science tell us about how devices need to perform, and how can standardization help?

Clean air is essential for human health. Recent years have seen the promise of a step forward in how air quality is monitored, with the development of ‘low-cost’ sensors. These miniaturized sensing instruments for measuring pollutant levels are often substantially cheaper than traditional techniques and have none of the constraints of instruments at fixed monitoring locations. They can provide much greater spatial density than fixed reference methods, especially in areas where traditional measurements would be challenging, and allow for measurements of personal exposure, mobile sources and indoor air quality. For instance, the recent Breathe London pilot project successfully showed how this new technology can be used to complement traditional reference measurement systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, UK

    Richard J. C. Brown & Nicholas A. Martin

  2. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Richard J. C. Brown

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  1. Richard J. C. Brown
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  2. Nicholas A. Martin
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Correspondence to Richard J. C. Brown or Nicholas A. Martin.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Brown, R.J.C., Martin, N.A. How standardizing ‘low-cost’ air quality monitors will help measure pollution. Nat Rev Phys 5, 139–140 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00561-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00561-8

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