Air quality sensors tested and installed

During the past few weeks the 90 air quality sensors of the LIFE VAQUUMS-project were tested in laboratory conditions. This week they were installed at the VMM monitoring station.

The test of the gas-sensors (nitrogen dioxide and ozone) was conducted at RIVM, while the test of the PM-sensors was conducted at TNO. As soon as the lab tests were finished, the sensors were installed at the monitoring station of VMM in Borgerhout (Antwerp, Belgium).

Here the sensor data they will be compared to the reference monitoring output in ambient air conditions. These ambient air conditions might be more challenging for the sensors than the laboratory conditions, since more environmental factors (e.g. temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, …) will influence the sensor’s measurements. The sensors will be tested in the field for at least three months, but we plan to keep them running for a longer period, as this will give us more insight on the life expectancy of a low cost air quality sensor.

The processed results of the laboratory tests are expected early 2019.