Air quality is a complex, multi-faceted topic with many nuances. Air is dynamic. That means it moves continuously. And it carries its pollutants wherever it goes. So, it becomes quite difficult when it comes to monitoring the air quality of a particular region.

“Air pollution can travel long distances across national borders over time scales of 4-6 days, thereby affecting people far away from its original source.” – As per a report by the WHO.

EPA defines three broad objectives for ambient air monitoring:

• To provide air pollution data to the general public in a timely manner
• To determine compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and emissions strategy development
• To support air pollution research

All these objectives can be achieved if data acquired from the Air Quality Monitor Systems (AQMS) is complete and adequate. To achieve this, one of the main factors to count in is location selection for these monitors.

Seems irrelevant, right?

Actually no. Turns out selecting the perfect locations for AQMS is crucial for enhancing the air quality sensor’s accuracy. The purpose of the AQMS site selection process is to gather data that would help in making informed decisions for deploying air quality monitors. For instance, wind introduces irregular distribution in air quality data which hinders the useful data observation for air quality mapping. Hence, monitoring the air pollution is a strongly location-dependent activity. This data disparity arises two critical questions:

1. Where should you install the AQMS?
2. How many units should be deployed?

Answering the first question requires thorough research of the location before initiating the air quality sensor installation process which can have a great significance to the overall process of air pollution monitoring campaign.

The second question demands a more in-depth study of the location. It will involve exploring various parameters like local land-use type, emission source, electricity connections, installation requirements of the equipment, and aim of the study. The air quality monitoring network can be established based on these factors. Through this network of AQMS, it is possible to extract precise and detailed spatial variability information of air pollution in the city.

We can not bridge the environmental data gap simply by installing an increasing number of sensors. The number of AAQMS also has an impact on the overall cost and data volume to process.

Now coming to the bigger question,