An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Workshop on Performance Targets for Low-Cost Air Sensors Scheduled for July 16

Published May 7, 2019

While the development and use of low-cost air sensors is on the rise, certification standards for these devises do not exist. EPA and other organizations have identified the need for a single set of performance targets for all non-regulatory air sensor systems to support consistent and accurate air quality data and improve confidence in their use.  

To support the development of performance requirements, EPA is conducting the 2019 “Deliberating Performance Targets for Air Quality Sensors” Workshop on July 16 in Durham, North Carolina, and by webinar. The purpose is to obtain a variety of viewpoints from developers, manufacturers, citizen scientists, air quality managers, and others on the establishment of non-regulatory performance targets for four regulated air pollutants–carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of 10 micrometers and smaller (PM10).

At the workshop, presentations and expert panel discussions will be held to facilitate discussions of technical issues involved with establishing performance requirements for low-cost sensors. EPA will also hear from stakeholders about their needs for air sensors that provide accurate and consistent results. A report will be published on the workshop findings in an open access journal following the workshop.

The international forum is the second focused on performance targets for air sensors organized by EPA. The first workshop held in June 2018 addressed performance targets for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3). The workshop was attended by more than 700 individuals and resulted in identifying many issues and perspectives related to establishing a standard set of performance requirements for low-cost sensors. The 2018 workshop resulted in the recent release of an open access journal article in April in Atmospheric Environment: X.