AIM
The objective of this project is to support the establishment of a standard for the performance assessment of air quality sensor systems for gaseous pollutants and for particulate pollutants in ambient air. This will be done by undertaking the pre-normative work that is required before the definition of a standard by CEN. The following Technical Specifications will be the basis for the work undertaken in this proposal: CEN/TS 17660-1:2021 and CEN/TS 17660-2:2024. This project will lead to recommendations for improvements to the current TS and recommendations on good practices for laboratory and field test, and related calculations and reporting.
The project is coordinated by VITO and project partners are: Ineris, ISPRA, NosmoTech, NPL, Ricardo, Bureau Veritas, LSCE, NILU. The project started in June 2025 and will end in November 2028.
VITO's ROLE
To work is organised around five WPs:
- WP1: Literature review and selection of air quality sensor systems (for gases and PM)
- WP2: Laboratory tests (including preliminary laboratory tests for gases, extended laboratory tests for gases and laboratory tests with two PM coarse fractions for PM)
- WP3: Field tests (in different European environments and at different site types for gas and PM sensors)
- WP4: Reporting of test results, classification and review of Technical Specifications (for gas and PM sensors)
- WP5: Project management (including organisation, purchase, transport and task management)
In the first phase, WP1 will focus on the literature review and will select the sensor system (2) for testing. Next, selected sensor systems will be evaluated in WP2 (laboratory testing) and WP3 (field testing), both performed according to the current Technical Specifications (CEN/TS 17660-1:2021 and CEN/TS 17660-2:2024). Laboratory tests will be performed in two different laboratories (VITO and NPL) and field tests are performed six measurement sites, characterized by diverse climatic conditions and site type (urban/suburban background, urban/suburban traffic, rural background). WP4 will use the data and calculations of WP2 and WP3 to produce test reports for gas and PM sensors. WP4 will also use the feedback from WP2 and WP3 to give recommendations for improvements of the Technical Specifications. WP5 is the Project management including organisation and task management of the project, rental or purchase and transport of sensor systems, and communication with relevant stakeholders (including CEN TC264/WG42).