Measurement method
Low-cost sensors
Also: consumer sensors, IoT monitors
Compact optical, electrochemical and metal-oxide sensors costing tens rather than thousands of euros, which have made continuous monitoring in homes and schools possible. Their strength is time resolution and coverage; their weakness is accuracy without calibration.
Why it matters indoors
Research since about 2015 has characterised how consumer-grade sensors compare with reference instruments: optical particle counters track PM₂.₅ trends well but can be biased by humidity and particle type; NDIR CO₂ sensors are reliable when periodically re-referenced to outdoor air; metal-oxide VOC sensors show relative changes but not absolute concentrations; electrochemical gas sensors drift and cross-react. Used with calibration and sensible interpretation, they reveal patterns — cooking peaks, night-time CO₂, seasonal radon — that periodic reference measurements never see.
What the studies report
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | other 0.79 | — · indoor test | co-location test of two consumer-grade low-cost sensors (Airthings View Plus, Air Gradient Pro) against reference instruments (Graywolf DSII-8 for CO2, Lighthouse Handheld 3016 for PM2.5) with time-series analysis, regression, Bland-Altman and paired t-tests | F-0141 Validating the performance of low-cost IAQ sensors through c… (2026) | machine |
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | other 48.2 | — | longitudinal performance study of 51 low-cost particle sensors (Airbeam 1 and Airbeam 2) calibrated four times over two years (2019-2021) against a Thermo Scientific PDR-1500 with cigarette smoke | F-0250 Anastasiou Feasibility of low-cost particle sensor types in long-term i… (2022) | machine |
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | other 8.3 | — | longitudinal performance study of 51 low-cost particle sensors (Airbeam 1 and Airbeam 2) calibrated four times over two years (2019-2021) against a Thermo Scientific PDR-1500 with cigarette smoke | F-0251 Anastasiou Feasibility of low-cost particle sensor types in long-term i… (2022) | machine |
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | other 0.87 | — | longitudinal performance study of 51 low-cost particle sensors (Airbeam 1 and Airbeam 2) calibrated four times over two years (2019-2021) against a Thermo Scientific PDR-1500 with cigarette smoke | F-0252 Anastasiou Feasibility of low-cost particle sensor types in long-term i… (2022) | machine |
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | other 0.96 | — | longitudinal performance study of 51 low-cost particle sensors (Airbeam 1 and Airbeam 2) calibrated four times over two years (2019-2021) against a Thermo Scientific PDR-1500 with cigarette smoke | F-0253 Anastasiou Feasibility of low-cost particle sensor types in long-term i… (2022) | machine |
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | other 5.0 | — · laboratory | laboratory calibration study of a low-cost optical particle sensor (Plantower PMS) against an aerodynamic particle sizer with test aerosols of known complex refractive index and density | F-0265 Huang et al. Assessing the value of complex refractive index and particle… (2021) | machine |
| Formaldehyde (CH₂O) | share-above 75.5 | — · office and laboratory building | IoT sensor monitoring (10 low-cost sensor nodes, one outdoors) of PM, CO2 and formaldehyde in a medical research centre in Sydney, with toxicological assessment of collected particles | F-0337 Arezoo et al. Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring in a Sydney Medica… (2026) | machine |
| Formaldehyde (CH₂O) | mean 1.1 | — · outdoors at the building | IoT sensor monitoring (10 low-cost sensor nodes, one outdoors) of PM, CO2 and formaldehyde in a medical research centre in Sydney, with toxicological assessment of collected particles | F-0338 Arezoo et al. Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring in a Sydney Medica… (2026) | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
In the literature
- Samad et al. Investigating a Low-Cost Dryer Designed for Low-Cost PM Sensors Measuring Ambient Air Quality (2021). Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). doi:10.3390/s21030804 CKB 0745
- Sá et al. Radon in indoor air - towards continuous monitoring. Sustainability. doi:10.3390/su14031529 CKB 0464
- Garcia-Garza Particulate matter 1um (PM1) dataset collected by low-cost sensors in residential and… (2024). doi:10.1016/j.dib.2024.110411 CKB 0777
Studies in the Coridum Knowledge Base in which this term is used. The definition follows standard usage in WHO, ISO and textbook sources; it is not quoted from these papers.
CKB = document number in the Coridum Knowledge Base, our curated library of peer-reviewed studies. Follow the DOI for the original paper.
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Low-cost sensors. Coridum Knowledge G-0079, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0079/