Results of the AIRLAB Microsensors 2023 challenge

New technologies to measure air quality 

Airparif, AIRLAB and their partners revealed on November 23, 2023 the winners of the 4th edition of the AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge during an international event which took place simultaneously in Bangkok and Paris. As part of the Franco-Thai Year of Innovation, an international and independent evaluation of the performance of microsensors for measuring air pollution was carried out for the first time simultaneously in France and Thailand, to assess the impact of different weather conditions and different levels and sources of pollution on the performance of microsensors. 

The results of the Challenge highlighted very variable measurement reliability depending on the microsensors, the pollutant and the use considered. Overall, microsensors showed better performance in measuring particles in more polluted environments with larger particle sizes: the microsensors tested performed better in Bangkok, where particle concentrations are higher than in Bangkok. France. While most of the microsensors tested proved unreliable for measuring gaseous pollutants like ozone and nitrogen dioxide, some microsensors in particular showed for the first time particularly precise measurement capability for ozone and carbon. soot in outdoor air. The microsensors measuring polluting gases proved to be poorly adaptable to the variation in weather conditions between Thailand and France and saw their accuracy degrade when moving from one measurement site to another. The measurement correction algorithms used encountered difficulties in managing temperature and humidity variations which strongly influence the performance of the microsensors.

The winners 2023

All of the microsensor results are made available on the AIRLAB website via a interactive platform so that each potential user can make their choice based on the expected use. These assessments are available in English and French.
Faced with the growing development of microsensor technology, Airparif, an independent association approved by the State to monitor air quality in the Paris region (France), and AIRLAB, its open innovation laboratory, have been organizing since 2018 with their partners a Microsensors Challenge. The objective of this international Challenge is to provide a rigorous and independent evaluation of the performance of microsensors, thanks to a panel of international experts and under real conditions of use. 

The 2023 edition of the AIRLAB Microcapteurs Challenge was organized with the support of the Clean Air Fund, the French Development Agency (AFD), the Ecological Transition Agency (ADEME), Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Embassy of France in Thailand and the Alliance Française of Bangkok. It was carried out with the technical collaboration of the Asian Institute of Technology, Atmo Hauts-de-France, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Scientific and Technical Building Center / Indoor Air Quality Observatory, of EMPA, FIMEA, National Institute of Metrology Thailand, and the World Meteorological Organization.

To have access to the full results of the 2023 edition microsensor Challenge, see the microsensors Challenge 2023 brochure (in English) and to find out more about feedback from concrete cases and recommendations for use, see Airparif File: microsensors  (in English).