Reliability analysis of microparticle measurements from a low-cost sensor station using model-generated references

Abstract

Different problems related to bad air quality are increasing worldwide currently, thatthreat to human health. Particulate matter (��), which has been declared as one of the six criteria air pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), is a contaminant that causes serious health risks; especially, the ��10 and ��2.5, that have diameters smaller than 10 and 2.5 micrometers (��), respectively. In the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA), the air quality is monitored by the Sistema Integral de Monitoreo Ambiental (SIMA), which is formed by 15 fixed and 1 mobile stations. However, the instruments used in the government air quality monitoring stations (GAQMS) present different drawbacks,such as high costs (> USD 10,000). On the other hand, Low-Cost Sensors (LCS) can be an advantageous tool for monitoring air quality since they are ease use, they have small size, need occasional maintenance, and they are costeffective compared to the GAQMS. This work aims to demonstrate the reliability, in terms of the root mean squared error (RMSE), of the calibration made to a Low-Cost Monitoring Station (LCMS) built with LCS, that provides the information of ��10 and ��2.5, using model-generated references (MGR) with 1-year data (2022) provided, specifically, from three GAQMS in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA): Centro, Sureste and Sur; and the creation of a virtual reference, using databases of these three GAQMS and the LCMS from three months (Feb – Apr) of the 2023. The results show that the RMSE, in the three phases of the experiments, is acceptable, and in the final one is reduced in a range of 48 % to 64% for ��10 and 24 % to 70 % for ��2.5.