sensors

Article
Index Air Quality Monitoring for Light and Active Mobility
Stefano Botticini 1 , Elisabetta Comini 1 , Salvatore Dello Iacono 1, * , Alessandra Flammini 2, * , Luigi Gaioni 2 ,
Andrea Galliani 2 , Luca Ghislotti 2 , Paolo Lazzaroni 2 , Valerio Re 2 , Emiliano Sisinni 1 , Matteo Verzeroli 2
and Dario Zappa 1

1 Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy;

[email protected] (S.B.); [email protected] (E.C.); [email protected] (E.S.);
[email protected] (D.Z.)
2 Department of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy;
[email protected] (L.G.); [email protected] (A.G.); [email protected] (L.G.);
[email protected] (P.L.); [email protected] (V.R.); [email protected] (M.V.)
* Correspondence: [email protected] (S.D.I.); [email protected] (A.F.)

Abstract: Light and active mobility, as well as multimodal mobility, could significantly contribute to
decarbonization. Air quality is a key parameter to monitor the environment in terms of health and
leisure benefits. In a possible scenario, wearables and recharge stations could supply information
about a distributed monitoring system of air quality. The availability of low-power, smart, low-
cost, compact embedded systems, such as Arduino Nicla Sense ME, based on BME688 by Bosch,
Reutlingen, Germany, and powered by suitable software tools , can provide the hardware to be easily
integrated into wearables as well as in solar-powered EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment)
for scooters and e-bikes. In this way, each e-vehicle, bike, or EVSE can contribute to a distributed
monitoring network providing real-time information about micro-climate and pollution. This work
experimentally investigates the capability of the BME688 environmental sensor to provide useful
and detailed information about air quality. Initial experimental results from measurements in non-
controlled and controlled environments show that BME688 is suited to detect the human-perceived
air quality. CO2 readout can also be significant for other gas (e.g., CO), while IAQ (Index for Air
Quality, from 0 to 500) is heavily affected by relative humidity, and its significance below 250 is quite
Citation: Botticini, S.; Comini, E.; low for an outdoor uncontrolled environment.
Dello Iacono, S.; Flammini, A.;
Gaioni, L.; Galliani, A.; Ghislotti, L.;
Keywords: light mobility; air quality index; MOx sensors
Lazzaroni, P.; Re, V.; Sisinni, E.; et al.
Index Air Quality Monitoring for
Light and Active Mobility. Sensors
2024, 24, 3170. https://doi.org/
1. Introduction
10.3390/s24103170
In an era marked by continuously increasing concerns over climate change and human
Academic Editor: Manuel Aleixandre
well-being, and where sustainable living is intimately connected to technological advance-
Received: 12 April 2024 ments, initiatives promoting active mobility and environment-aware solutions stand at the
Revised: 10 May 2024 forefront of innovation. Among these initiatives, the MOST project (Centro Nazionale per
Accepted: 13 May 2024 la Mobilità Sostenibile. Available online: https://www.centronazionalemost.it/ (accessed
Published: 16 May 2024 on 1 May 2024)) funded by the Italian PNRR (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza) and
part of the Next Generation EU program, aims at the development of innovative solutions
that will help, on the one hand, to create a system of safe, accessible, and accident-free
mobility and, on the other hand, to promote green, clean, and climate-neutral mobility
Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. habits. Within the scope of the project, the development of low-cost, low-power solutions
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
for the monitoring of environmental parameters crucial for human well-being is a key topic.
This article is an open access article
Air quality remains a critical public health concern, both indoors and outdoors, with
distributed under the terms and
far-reaching consequences for the global population. Recent estimates from the World
conditions of the Creative Commons
Health Organization (WHO) reveal that air pollution contributes to millions of premature
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
deaths annually, highlighting its substantial impact [1]. Nearly the entire global population
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
breathes air exceeding WHO air quality guidelines [2], putting it at risk for different health

Sensors 2024, 24, 3170. https://doi.org/10.3390/s24103170 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors

Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 2 of 27

problems. Sensors are key devices in the development of cost-effective monitoring systems
for air quality. The number of sensors deployed worldwide is forecast to reach the one
trillion mark by 2025 [3]; hence, nowadays, there exists a wide variety of commercially
available sensor devices deployed in buildings for environmental monitoring purposes;
these devices employ different technologies and functionalities (such as temperature,
carbon dioxide, humidity, occupancy, light, and airflow sensors), use a wide range of
communication techniques, wired and wireless (such as Ethernet, Power Line Carrier,
Zigbee, Bluetooth, Wifi, EnOcean, BACnet, Modbus, LoWPAN, Z-Wave, LoRaWAN, etc.),
and sometimes can also be powered with batteries and energy harvesting sources. In
addition, the right placement of the sensors in the environment is of crucial importance for
the optimal functioning of the system.
Over the past few years, miniaturized metal oxide (MOx) sensors have gained significant
popularity for monitoring air quality [4]. Such sensors, also referred to as chemiresistive sensors,
offer a broad range of detection capabilities for different harmful gasses, with a device’s resis-
tance being affected by the exposure to both reducing and oxidizing gasses. There are several
low-cost and compact MOx sensors, as described in Section 3. An interesting, well-known, easily
available, integrated, and low-power solution is the BME680/688 sensor from Bosch SensorTec,
capable of detecting the presence of volatile compounds (VOCs) in indoor air, excluding CO2.
These devices natively furnish an estimation of VOC concentration and CO2 concentration
in parts per million and also compute a comprehensive relative air quality index ., and, in
the range 0 ≤ IAQ ≤ 500. According to the manufacturer, for IAQ ≤ 50, air quality is good,
while IAQ ≥ 200 identifies polluted air.
In this work, an experimental characterization of the performance of the Bosch BME688
sensor is discussed, with the final aim of evaluating whether this sensor, mainly conceived
for HVAC applications, can be successfully exploited for low-cost, low-power solutions
for environmental monitoring in light and smart mobility applications. The conducted
experiments are mainly focused on the effects of temperature and humidity and the depen-
dence of the estimated values from environmental conditions. The validity of the results
can be used not only to design new, sensorized tools for e-bikes, such as cycling accessories
or charging stations, but also for a more general cooperative, distributed environmental
monitoring, including agriculture and animal husbandry.
Starting from a brief review of air pollutants and how current literature and directives
interpret the air quality in Section 2, Section 3 reports the main technologies for air quality
monitoring with a particular focus on the Bosch SensorTec BME688 and the Arduino
Nicla Sense ME. Section 4 describes the three case studies and experimental setups, while
Section 6 discusses the results obtained from the measurement campaigns carried out with
the proposed demonstrator. The final section draws some conclusions on the possibility of
using BME688 for environmental monitoring.

2. Air Quality
Clean air mainly consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and a mix of different gasses
such as carbon dioxide, argon, and hydrogen [5]. The WHO distinguishes two groups
of pollutants: the first one includes primary pollutants, which are directly emitted into
the atmosphere, like sulfur dioxide (SO2 ), nitrogen oxides (NOxs), carbon monoxide
(CO), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulate matter (PM). The second group
includes the so-called secondary pollutants, which are the result of chemical reactions of
primary pollutants, such as ozone (O3 ), some nitrogen compounds, and secondary PM.
Measuring the secondary pollutants is more difficult because their formation depends on
environmental conditions, such as chemical precursors, temperature, and sunlight intensity.
In urban areas, people can be exposed to large concentrations of primary pollutants, with
levels of exposure being influenced by the means of transport [6,7]. For cyclists and
pedestrians, the amount of inhaled pollutants is higher due to an increased breathing
rate [8]. Chronic exposure to air pollutants has been linked to several adverse health
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 3 of 27

outcomes, ranging from respiratory to cardiovascular diseases, and it has been shown to
exacerbate existing conditions such as asthma and allergies [9].
The detrimental effects of air pollutants disproportionately affect the most vulnerable
in our society, including children, elders, and individuals with pre-existing health condi-
tions. Hence, monitoring outdoor air quality is crucial for tackling local environmental
issues and protecting public health. To achieve this, the European Union delivered several
regulations, including the Ambient Air Directive (2008/50/EC) [10], also referred to as
the “EU Clean Air Directive”, which outlines different measures that member states must
put in place to monitor and improve air quality. Amongst these, the directive sets the
minimum number of fixed air quality monitoring stations (AQMSs) needed in different
regions. These stations are strategically located based on air pollution levels, popula-
tion density, and coverage area. The AQMS leverages reliable and certified methods to
measure different pollutants. However, the initial investment and ongoing maintenance
costs for these stations can be significant and may limit their usage. Advancements in
sensor technology offer new solutions to air quality monitoring: such solutions promise a
more cost-effective way to gather data but come with the trade-off of lower accuracy and
reliability compared to traditional AQMSs. Despite this, the large availability of low-cost
sensors enables high-resolution and real-time data collection, offering valuable insights
into air quality trends and fluctuations. While not as precise as traditional monitoring
stations, many studies demonstrate that these systems can be effectively used to assess air
quality, providing a general understanding of pollution levels. As a significant example,
the project described in [11] is based on a network of eleven sensor nodes (ten stationary
and one mobile unit mounted on a public bus) spread across the city of Bari, Italy. Such a
network successfully measured various pollutants like NO2 , O3 , CO, and PM10, together
with environmental parameters such as temperature and humidity, using electrochemical
and optical sensors. The results described in the study revealed a high success rate in
classifying outdoor air quality, based on the air quality index (AQI), compared to the results
from the closest official AQMS station.
Assessing the air quality index serves as a robust and informative method for commu-
nicating the outdoor air quality conditions across a given region. The computation of the
AQI leverages different methodologies depending on the reference air quality standards.
Among these methodologies, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) AQI stands as
one of the most widely recognized frameworks, strictly linked with the National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) table (United Stated Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) “NAAQS Table”. Available online: https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/
naaqs-table (accessed on 8 May 2024)). Such a table serves as a reference point laying out
concentration limits for six principal air pollutants deemed critical to public health and
environmental integrity. These pollutants include carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide,
ozone, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), and sulfur dioxide. By establishing specific
concentration limits for each of these pollutants, the NAAQS provides a framework for
assessing air quality and formulating mitigation strategies to safeguard public health and
ecological balance. The air quality index is a numerical value ranging from 0 to 500: an
AQI of 100 is typically associated with healthy air quality for most people.
Together with the assessment of outdoor air quality, indoor air quality is of uttermost
importance for increasing the quality of life. High-quality indoor air must satisfy the require-
ments of low CO2 and VOCs levels, and comfortable air temperature and humidity; not
complying with these requests can lead to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), a situation where a
relationship between the time spent in a specific building and a negative impact on health can
be observed [12]. Numerous indoor pollutants have well-documented detrimental impacts
on human health; these range from causing irritation in the nasal and mucous membranes
to potentially leading to permanent damage or even cancer. Interestingly, elevated levels of
CO2 in indoor air have been found to have a statistically significant correlation with declines
in cognitive performance and this holds true even at levels that are considered acceptable
according to standards such as ASHRAE [13]. Additionally, volatile organic compounds
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 4 of 27

(VOCs) can result in the irritation of the ears, nose, and throat, while particulate matter can
contribute to the development of lung diseases. Usually, building ventilation is achieved in a
natural way, by diluting polluted indoor air with fresh and outdoor air, or by cleaning and
reusing the indoor air; however, the first method, where the ventilation rate is controlled
by opening and closing windows, can reliably ensure good air quality only locally, near the
window, and will increase heating systems’ energy consumption [12]. The main purpose of
HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems is to provide a comfortable, healthy,
and productive indoor environment responsive to humans and their demands [14], and their
employment contributes significantly to the overall energy consumption of modern buildings.
It is estimated that building energy consumption accounts for 30–45% of the global energy
demand [3], where the largest component comes from heating and cooling; in fact, in [15] the
authors state that above 60–70% of the primary energy used in major parts of the world such as
the US, EU, China, and Australia is intended for this purpose. Given the enormous energy
consumption of HVAC systems, one of the key aspects to achieve their optimal usage is an
accurate sensing and measurement of various parameters such as temperature, humidity,
pressure, and air quality. The characterization of sensors used in HVAC systems and their
synergetic use is crucial for ensuring optimal performance, energy efficiency, and indoor air
quality (IAQ); by improving fault diagnosis and control strategies, significant savings can be
achieved. Many national and international agencies suggest and recommend limit values for
main pollutants, both outdoors and indoors. Table 1 shows the exposure limit values for some
gasses according to different agencies and organizations.

Table 1. Regulatory and recommended limits for some pollutants. The meanings of abbreviations are
reported in the section on abbreviations.

Regulatory Limits Recommended Limits

OSHA Cal/OSHA PEL NIOSH REL ACGIH ECHA-
PEL [16,17] [16,17] [16,17] TLV [16,17] OELs [18–21]
Substance EC No. CAS No.
8-h TWA 8-h TEA Up to 10-h 8-h TWA 8-h TWA
[ppm] [ppm] TWA [ppm] [ppm] [ppm]
20
25 35
Carbon monoxide CO 211-128-3 630-08-0 50 25 (ST) 100
(C) 200 (C) 200
(IV)
5000 5000 5000 5000
Carbon dioxide CO2 204-696-9 124-38-9 5000
(ST) 30,000 (ST) 30,000 (ST) 30,000 (II)
0.5
Nitrogen dioxide NO2 233-272-6 10102-44-0 (C) 5 (ST) 1 (ST) 1 0.2 (ST) 1
(IV)
10 5
(C) 20 (C) 10 1
Hydrogen ulphide H2 S 231-977-3 7783-06-4 (ST) 15 (ST) 10
(C) 50 * [10 min] (ST) 5
(C) 50 (III)
1000 **
Ethanol CH3 CH2 OH 200-578-6 64-17-5
(ST) 5000 **
* Acceptable maximum peak above the acceptable ceiling concentration for an 8 h shift, maximum duration: 10 min
once only if no other measurable exposure occurs. ** France: Tableaux des maladies professionnelles Régime
général tableau 84.

3. Sensors for Air Quality Evaluation

Among the different sensors integrated in monitoring systems, temperature, humidity,
and gas sensors are key devices that strongly impact the performance of these systems.
Temperature sensors measure the temperature of a flowing media such as air, water, etc. [3]
and are an essential element in modern HVAC systems. Generally, there are four types of
temperature sensors: thermocouples, RTDs (resistance temperature detectors), thermistors,
and IC sensors, each with different properties and features, in terms of ease of operation,
accuracy, range of measurement, response time, and cost.
Humidity sensors quantify the amount of water vapor in air, which is typically mea-
sured in terms of relative humidity (measured as a function of temperature), dew point
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 5 of 27

(measured as a function of pressure of the gas), or absolute humidity. The functioning of

these devices typically relies on two fundamental physical operating principles, namely the
high-performance capacitive one and the low-cost resistive one. In the first case, metallic
plates (usually gold or platinum) and dielectric material (usually a plastic or polymer) get
deposited onto a substrate (glass, silicon, or alumina) to obtain an equivalent capacitor;
humidity levels of the surrounding air affect the capacitance, which gets measured to obtain
the dielectric constant, proportional to this level. These sensors present a high level of
linearity, enabling them to accurately measure relative humidity (RH) in the range 0–100%.
They exhibit exceptional accuracy, within a range from ±0.1% to ±5.0%, and are known
for their low power consumption; nevertheless, capacitive sensors necessitate intricate cir-
cuitry, regular calibration, and are comparatively more expensive than alternative humidity
sensor technologies. Conversely, resistive sensors are, on average, low-cost, possess a good
response time (10–60 s), and tend to have a narrow measurement range (usually unable to
measure values lower than 5% RH) and less accuracy (±1–10%) [3].
Carbon dioxide sensors facilitate the supervision and regulation of carbon levels to
guarantee safety and uphold high indoor AQI, while reducing unnecessary air changes
that lead to higher energy usage. Optical gas sensors leverage the principle of optical
absorption, described by the Beer–Lambert law [22], to measure the concentration of carbon
dioxide. This technology relies on the property of CO2 molecules of absorbing infrared
light featuring a wavelength close to 4.2 µm. By measuring the amount of absorbed light
and comparing it with a known concentration, the CO2 concentration in a gas sample
can be assessed. This technology, known as transmissive NDIR (non-dispersive infrared),
requires a minimum optical path length of several centimeters to ensure sufficient absorp-
tion of infrared rays at low CO2 concentrations [23]. NDIR sensors have high accuracy
(±30–200 ppm), wide measuring range (0–10,000 ppm), durability, reliability, slow response
times (30–100 s), and high power consumption [3]. As a robust alternative to transmis-
sive NDIR sensors, the photo-acoustic NDIR technology, also known as Photo-Acoustic
Spectroscopy (PAS), allows for smaller sizes and enhanced robustness against mechanical
and thermal stress [24]. PAS technology is based on the measurement of the intensity of
pressure waves associated with the vibrations of CO2 molecules, which, in turn, are the
results of infrared light absorption by the molecules themselves. By measuring the ampli-
tude of the pressure waves with a microphone inside a measurement chamber, the CO2
concentration can be calculated. As an example, the Infineon PASCO2V01 [25] leverages
PAS technology to provide highly sensitive and accurate carbon dioxide detection. Such
a sensor is designed to measure CO2 concentrations in different applications, including
indoor air quality monitoring, HVAC systems, and automotive and industrial processes.
Other air pollutants, like CO and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are commonly
detected with metal oxide semiconductor (MOx)-based and electrochemical-based sensors.
Electrochemical gas sensors are usually exploited for detecting inorganic gasses such as
CO, NO2 , SO2 , and O3 , providing a change in the current across two electrodes related to
the concentration of a target gas, chemically reacting with the sensing membrane. They
exhibit response times from 10 s to 60 s, an accuracy of ±30 ppm, measurement ranges
from 0 to 1000 ppm, higher sensitivities, longer life spans, and lower energy consumption
when compared with MOx sensors [3]. As an example, TGS5141-P00 by Figaro [26] and
the AQ7CO by Honeywell [27] can be successfully exploited to measure the concentration
of carbon monoxide in the air, despite being powered by a battery. In the realm of air
quality sensing, phosphorene is gaining attention for its remarkable chemical, physical, and
optoelectronic characteristics. Combined with the capabilities of standard air quality sensors,
phosphorene, with its unique properties, may lead to more sensitive, selective, and efficient
sensing technologies [28].
The use of miniaturized MOx sensors became popular for monitoring air quality [17]
because they offer a broad range of detection capabilities for harmful gasses. The MOx
sensor structure includes a thermally insulated heating membrane fabricated through
silicon micromachining techniques, which enables the production of smaller sensors with
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 6 of 27

lower power consumption. A metal oxide layer is placed on top of the heating membrane.
This layer is made of a doped semiconductor material, such as stannic oxide (SnO2 ),
tungsten trioxide (WO3 ), or titanium dioxide (TiO2 ). At high temperatures, gas molecules
react with the surface of the MOx material, generating free charge carriers that induce a
resistance variation in the material. Oxidizing gasses, such as NOx, increase the resistance
of the sensor, whereas reducing gasses, like VOCs, lead to a decrease in the resistance. It has
been previously shown that changes in MOx sensor electrical responses, which undergo
this band-bending phenomenon, can be influenced by temperature and humidity [9].
To account for these influences, many sensor assemblies, including the one targeted in
this study, incorporate additional circuitry. These devices have a VOC measurement
accuracy that can vary from ±30 ppm up to ±100 ppm in a wide measurement range
(400–20,000 ppm) and response time from 50 s to 60 s. Energy consumptions are usually
high, as they require an electric heater to maintain the sensing element temperature at
up to 300 ◦ C, and present short life spans [3]. As an example, the ZMOD4410 sensor by
Renesas [29,30] and the ENS160 by ScioSense [31] provide the VOC concentration in parts
per billion (ppb) and, at the same time, calculate the corresponding air quality level based
on the UBA standard.
In [32], authors reviewed CMOS Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMSs) for
gas detection, sensor technologies, design, and operation in the field of indoor air qual-
ity control and monitoring, with a focus on commercially available products. In [33],
an extensive summary of a series of modular IoT platforms and gas sensor nodes for
real-time monitoring of the AQI is provided, and a flexible IoT (Internet of Things) gas
sensor node, using a modular functional concept for the fast detection of small leak-
ages and hazardous gas situations, is presented. Among the most common MOx n-
type sensors in this field of application, the literature mentions the BME680 (SnO2 [34])
and BME688 from Bosch SensorTec [35], the SGP30 (MOx coated nano-particles [34])
from Sensirion, and IAQ-Core [33] and CCS811 [34] from AMS. The BME680 sensor is
a digital device that detects the presence of volatile compounds in indoor air, excluding
CO2 . It is capable of estimating the total amount of VOCs in the surrounding air and
measuring temperature, humidity, and pressure. On the other hand, the CCS811 sensor is
an energy-efficient digital gas sensor specifically designed to monitor indoor air quality. It
processes the raw sensor data and provides temperature, TVOC measurements in parts
per billion (ppb), and an estimated CO2 equivalent in parts per million (ppm). Lastly,
the SGP30 sensor is the first metal oxide gas sensor to incorporate multiple sensors on
a single chip. It also provides a TVOC measurement in parts per billion (ppb), and an
equivalent CO2 concentration in parts per million (ppm). It is worth noting that each of
these metal oxide sensors includes on-chip algorithms to adjust the TVOC output based
on humidity and temperature. BME688 and SPG30 are gas sensors that come as tiny
digital solutions that already handle the heater control, calibration procedures, baseline
and long-term correction, and humidity compensation (for BME688, partially supported
by a related processing library), and offer a comfortable interface such as SPI or I2C [33].
In [36], a comparison among many popular MOx sensors has been reported; however, the
study neither consider the impact of AI on the estimation of air pollutants and AIQ, nor
firmware-configurable devices like the ZMOD4410 by Renesas and the software supported
BME688. For the time being, the BME688 sensor is the only solution combining precise
environmental sensing with AI capabilities, the latter being easily upgradable thanks to
the tools provided by the vendor. This, together with the large availability of breakout
boards and the Nicla environment, as well as additional devices such as IMUs, make it
an ideal candidate for the development of lightweight mobile applications. In Table 2, a
brief comparison between a subset of properties of commercially available air quality or
pollutant sensors is provided as a summary of the previous discussion.
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 7 of 27

Table 2. Brief comparison between commercially available sensors for air quality monitoring.

Accuracy Power Cost

Device Manufacturer Technology Target (If Applicable) Consumption [EUR/kunit]
[ppm] [mW]
PASCO2V01 Infineon PAS CO2 30 30 ∼5
TGS5141-P00 Figaro MOx CO – – ∼5
AQ7CO Honeywell MOx CO2 up to 0.01 – 25.99
ENS160 ScioSense MOx TVOC – 58 4.6
ZMOD4410 Renesas MOx TVOC 30 1.5–23 * 1.82
SGP30 Sensirion MOx PM, TVOC, NOx 1 ∼90 17
TVOC
BME680 Bosch Sensortec MOx – 0.18–24 * 4.75
(qualitative)
TVOC
BME688 Bosch Sensortec MOx – 0.18–7.8 * 4.75
(qualitative)
CCS811 Bosch Sensortec MOx TVOC – 60 4.75
* Depending on the operation mode set on the sensor.

In this work, the BME688 was considered as a reference example of an MOx sensor.
The performance of the BME688 sensor is discussed, with the aim of evaluating whether this
sensor, mainly conceived for HVAC applications, can be successfully exploited for low-cost,
low-power solutions for environmental monitoring. The choice of configuring the BME688
sensor using the Nicla Sense board was led by the advanced functionalities made available
in the rather compact size of the device. This, together with the low-power features of the
platform, shown in Table 2, make it one of the best candidates in view of the development
of portable equipment to be installed in light vehicles such as e-bikes. Moreover, it has
to be noted that the Nicla Sense board is fully compatible with other Arduino products,
making it possible to easily integrate the device into existing systems, leveraging the power
of the Arduino ecosystem. Moreover, the BME688 sensor’s capabilities open doors for other
interesting possibilities in different fields. As an example, in smart homes and buildings,
the BME688 can monitor air quality, eventually triggering ventilation systems or generating
alerts, ultimately promoting a healthier indoor environment. In industrial settings, such a
device can be exploited to detect harmful gas leaks or build-up, improving worker safety
and ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.
The Nicla Sense ME was selected for this study due to its availability from many
different suppliers and distributors, and for its wide acceptance in academia. As a matter
of fact, many different works in the literature designed proof of concepts around this
board. As an example, in [37], the Nicla Sense ME was used to gather environmental
parameters for an alert system capable of warning drivers of possible attention decrease;
in [38], it was used as the reference sensing platform in a fog-like computing architecture
for industrial applications. In the field of environmental parameters monitoring, the Nicla
Sense ME was used in [39] as a real-time monitoring solution in sleeping environments in
order to improve sleep quality. Moreover, this platform has been proposed as a personal
environmental device with the aim of providing a cost-effective personal environmental
exposure monitoring device evaluating the detrimental effects of pollutants (by measuring
the levels of CO, CO2 , O3 , H2 S, as well as temperature, pressure, motion, and the relative
concentration of VOCs) on human health [40]. However, to the best of authors’ knowledge,
just a few works in the literature report systematic measurement data relevant to the
BME688 sensor [33,41]. Nonetheless, it should be noted that such works focus on the
behavior of the BME688 exposed to VOCs such as hexane and ethanol, while this paper
is mainly concerned with the study of CO2 concentration and of the IAQ index, together
with raw data made available from the sensor including the effects of temperature and
relative humidity.
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 8 of 27

4. The Adopted Demonstrator

A demonstrator was devised to acquire data in the previously described environment.
The main components in the system are presented in the following section, starting with
the MOx sensor under investigation, namely the Bosch BME688.

4.1. The Bosh SensorTec BME688

The BME688 from Bosch SensorTec offers a combination of environmental- and gas-
sensing capabilities within a single, compact integrated circuit (IC). It is housed in a
3.0 × 3.0 × 0.93 mm metal lid Land Grid Array (LGA) package. It can operate in a tem-
perature range from −40 ◦ C to +85 ◦ C, with a relative humidity level in the range from
0% to 100% and pressures varying from 300 mbar to 1100 mbar. As reported in Section 1,
MOx sensors, beside cross-sensitivity with temperature, are mainly dependent on hu-
midity, a parameter which should be kept under control while operating the device. For
this purpose, the sensor integrates additional on-board environmental-sensing devices,
including temperature, humidity, and pressure as reported in the Bosch SensorTec BME688
datasheet [35].
The BME688 represents an improved version of the BME680, where gas scanning
functions have been introduced leveraging configurable artificial intelligence (AI) models,
although the AI functionality is external to the device [42]. Bosch BME688 and its older
counterpart BME680 provide a relative air quality index from 0 to 500, where values larger
than 200 reflect a condition of polluted air. These sensors also provide an estimation of
VOC concentration in parts per million, tested on a mixture of elements typically exhaled
by human respiration.
The temperature sensor integrated within the chip utilizes a micromachined ther-
mopile [43] composed of a number of serially connected thermocouples. Each thermo-
couple consists of two dissimilar metals (p-type and n-type doped silicon) that generate
a Seebeck voltage proportional to the temperature difference across their junction due to
the Seebeck effect. The multiple thermocouples are connected electrically in series and
thermally in parallel, resulting in an amplified output voltage. The amplified voltage is
then processed by on-chip amplification and signal conditioning circuitry. Subsequently,
an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) within the IC converts the conditioned signal into
a high-resolution digital temperature output. The absolute accuracy of the temperature
sensor between 0 ◦ C and 65 ◦ C is ±0.5 ◦ C.
A humidity sensor is also available in the package. It is machined as interdigitated elec-
trodes fabricated on a hygroscopic dielectric layer. The capacitance between the electrodes
is dependent on the permittivity of the dielectric layer, which varies with the adsorbed
water vapor molecules. The BME688 incorporates an on-chip oscillator circuit to measure
the capacitance [44]. The oscillation frequency is inversely proportional to the capacitance.
Therefore, changes in humidity induce a shift in the oscillation frequency, which is con-
verted into a digital output using a frequency-to-digital converter (FDC) within the IC.
The response time of the humidity sensor, evaluated as the response of a humidity change
varying as a step function and quite difficult to be experimentally evaluated, is 8 s at 63 % of
the steady-state value. The relative humidity accuracy is ±3 % with a hysteresis of ±1.5 %.
Completing the environmental sensor lot, a pressure sensor is present in the IC. It
leverages a piezoresistive pressure transducer comprising a thin, flexible membrane made of
a piezoresistive material. When exposed to pressure, the membrane experiences a deflection,
causing a change in its electrical resistance due to the piezoresistive effect. The BME688
employs a Wheatstone bridge [45] circuit to measure this resistance change. The bridge
becomes unbalanced due to the altered resistance, resulting in a voltage difference at the
output terminals. This voltage difference is amplified and processed by the on-chip electronics,
providing a digital pressure output proportional to the applied pressure. The Root Mean
Square (RMS) noise is 0.12 Pa, with an offset temperature coefficient of ±1.3 Pa/K.
The MOx sensor comprises a metal oxide layer deposited on a ceramic substrate.
This metal oxide exhibits semiconducting behavior, and its electrical conductivity is influ-
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 9 of 27

enced by the presence of various gasses in the surrounding environment. As discussed

in Section 1, the interaction between gas molecules and the metal oxide surface leads
to charge transfer processes, altering the resistance and current flow through the sensor.
However, the MOx sensor response is often complex and non-specific. The gas sensor
incorporates an integrated micro-hotplate heater [46], enabling the use of heating profiles
(Bosch Sensortec “BME AI Studio Documentation—Glossary”. Available online: https://
www.bosch-sensortec.com/software/bme/docs/overview/glossary.html#measurement-session
(accessed on 8 May 2024)) to improve gas-sensing capabilities. These profiles represent a
set of controlled temperature cycles applied to the sensor, influencing its sensitivity and
selectivity towards specific gaseous compounds. The standard heater profile is provided
in Figure 1. Selectivity in gas sensing refers to the sensor’s ability to distinguish between
different gas species present in a mixture and respond primarily to the target gas of interest.

350

300

250
Temperature (◦ C)

200

150

100

50
Temperature step
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (s)

Figure 1. BME688 default heating profile, adapted from [35].

The primary purpose of the heating profile is to enhance the BME688’s sensitivity to
gas molecules, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [47]. Heating the sensor
element increases the desorption of gas molecules adsorbed on the sensing surface, leading
to a stronger signal and improved detection limits. This is achieved through Temperature-
Programmed Desorption (TPD) facilitated by the heating profile [48]. When heated, gas
molecules adsorbed on the sensor surface desorb, meaning that they are released back into
the gas phase. However, the desorption process is temperature-dependent: different gas
molecules exhibit varying desorption temperatures. Some of them are readily desorbed
at lower temperatures, while others require higher temperatures for efficient desorption.
Furthermore, the heating profile can be customized to improve selectivity by exploiting the
temperature-dependent desorption characteristics of different gas species. By adjusting the
temperature and duration of the heating cycles, the sensor can be made more responsive
to specific target gasses while minimizing interference from other environmental factors
that might influence the readings. By tailoring the temperature and duration of the heating
profile, the BME688 can selectively target the desorption of specific gas molecules.

4.2. Bosch SensorTec Development Environment

In order to retrieve higher-level information from the raw data extracted by the
BME688, Bosch SensorTec developed a library called Bosch Software Environmental Cluster
(BSEC) (Available online: https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/software-tools/software/
bme680-software-bsec/ (accessed on 7 May 2024)) to be used by the microcontroller that
reads the sensor. The BSEC library is a part of the BSEC system, which is composed of
BME68x sensors, sensor driver Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the BSEC fusion
library, and the BME AI Studio. By suitably combining raw data from the physical sensor,
the BSEC module makes it possible to shape virtual sensors with enhanced capabilities.
The sensor driver APIs are useful software interfaces that handle the low-level interactions
with the sensor. They provide the possibility to retrieve compensated raw data via the I2C
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 10 of 27

or SPI communication bus. The BME AI Studio serves as an AI toolchain designed for the
development of personalized classification and regression AI models.
The BSEC library can be customized according to the desired application through a
configuration file. This file includes information concerning the supply voltage, the different
power modes, and the number of days considered for the automatic background calibration
of the air quality index. These parameters influence the processing, the output data, and they
can affect the performance of the library overall. The supply voltage of the sensor can be
selected between two different values, 1.8 V and 3.3 V, and it influences the self-heating of the
sensor. Since the BME688 can be used in different scenarios, there exist multiple modes of
operation that differ in power consumption and output data rate. The gas scan mode (SCAN) is
designed for applying regression and classification algorithms on targeted gasses. The BSEC
algorithm has been trained to identify the presence of H2S and to estimate its concentration
in ppm. In this use case, the standard heater profile is used, with an update rate of 10.8 s.
Different heater profiles, classification, and regression algorithms can be designed with the
BME AI Studio. Continuous mode (CONT), low-power mode (LP), and ultra-low-power mode
(ULP) provide some interesting output data, such as IAQ, estimated CO2, and breath-VOC
equivalent concentration with an output rate of 1 s, 3 s and 300 s, respectively. They also have
different average power consumptions: less than 12 mA for the continuous mode, less than
1 mA, and 0.1 mA for the low-power and ultra-low-power modes. Finally, it is possible
to choose the number of days for the automatic background calibration for the IAQ: the
possible choices are 4 days or 28 days. The output given by the BSEC library depends on
the selected mode, except for the raw data relevant to temperature, humidity, pressure, and
gas resistance which can be retrieved in all modes. In scan mode, the BSEC provides the
probability of estimation and the regression result for at most four gas classes. On the other
hand, in CONT, LP, and ULP, it is possible to get IAQ and static-IAQ (s-IAQ) values. These
indexes can assume a value from 0 to 500 and they give insight about the air quality. As
shown in Table 3, values above 100 mean polluted air.

Table 3. BSEC IAQ index interpretation. Taken from [35].

Impact
IAQ Index Air Quality Suggested Action
(Long-Term Exposure)
0–50 Excellent Pure air; best for well-being No measures needed
51–100 Good No irritation or impact on well-being No measures needed
101–150 Lightly polluted Reduction of well-being possible Ventilation suggested
151–200 Moderately polluted More significant irritation possible Optimize ventilation
Exposition might lead to effects like headache
201–250 Heavily polluted Optimize ventilation
depending on type of VOCs
Contamination should be identified if level is
More severe health issue possible if harmful
251–350 Severely polluted reached even w/o presence of people; maximize
VOC present
ventilation and reduce attendance
Contamination needs to be identified; avoid
>351 Extremely polluted Headaches, additional neurotoxic effects possible
presence in room and maximize ventilation

Another virtual sensor provided by the BSEC is the equivalent CO2 , which relates to
the concentration of the CO2 leveraging the correlation between the VOC and CO2 exhaled
by humans. The BSEC library also provides the possibility to get an estimation of the
corresponding concentration of the VOC in referring to a breath-VOC gas mixture tested in
the laboratory. Finally, it provides some heater-compensated temperature and humidity
values which give more accurate temperature and humidity values.

4.3. Arduino Nicla Sense ME Board

In the context of the proposed setup, as discussed in the following section, a BME688 breakout
board was needed to minimize wiring related to power and communication. The Arduino Nicla
Sense ME board (Arduino “Documentation for Arduino Nicla Sense ME”. Available online: https:
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 11 of 27

//docs.arduino.cc/hardware/nicla-sense-me/ (accessed on 7 May 2024)) comes in handy in this

scenario, providing both a BME688 sensor, additional sensors, and integrating Bluetooth
functionalities in its microcontroller. The Arduino Nicla Sense ME is a development board
with networking capabilities designed to evaluate wireless sensor network architectures,
powered by an on-board sensor fusion engine. For this purpose, the board integrates the
BHI260AP sensor hub [49], a pressure sensor, a three-axis magnetometer, and the BME688
directly connected to the sensor hub.
The sensor hub IC acts as a hardware accelerator equipped with a programmable
32-bit microcontroller, a six-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and an event-driven
software framework with data processing capabilities (Bosch Sensortec “Sensor Fusion
Software (BSX)”. Available online: https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/software-tools/
software/sensor-fusion-software-bsx/ (accessed on 7 May 2024)). This chip has 25 GPIO
and standard communication interfaces (SPI/I2C). The BHI260AP is responsible for reading
and processing the data from the sensors connected to it, lightening the computational
load of the central control unit (host) to which it is connected. When programmed with
proper firmware, the sensor hub is able to manage complex algorithms, aggregating data
from multiple sensors by creating virtual sensor objects. This chip aims to provide a
computational subsystem and hardware centralizer for devices that may need to process
huge amounts of data for prolonged periods with low power consumption. It can also be
used as a smart sensor for orientation, motion recognition, and activity recognition, thanks
to the six degrees of freedom IMU that it integrates.
The sensor hub can be equipped with drivers that enable the dialogue with the sensors,
setting their operating parameters and receiving their readings. The Arduino Nicla Sense
ME is compatible with firmware that must be flashed specifically through the Arduino IDE
and that manages the sensor hub configurations. The firmware loaded in the BHI260AP
device, when configured through the Arduino IDE interface, employs the Sensorboard
Default HP/RDC configuration, which means that the HP-354 and the standard RDC are
used. The BSEC library runs on the BHI260AP’s built-in processing unit. The BME688
sensor hardware needs to be configured with proper operational settings. These settings
need to be configured on the BME688 sensor HW through the BHI260AP on the Nicla Sense
ME board, and this can be done through the Arduino BHY2’s library APIs. The Nicla Sense
ME configuration diagram with its sensor hub firmware and the BME688 data management
is reported in the diagram of Figure 2.

BHI260AP
Sketch Elaborated data
BSEC2 Library
Arduino
IDE Raw data collection
Sketch
BME688 Driver

SPI

BME688 Sensor

Figure 2. Diagram representing the firmware configuration scheme of BME688 through Arduino IDE.

The Nicla Sense ME board is powered by an nRF52832 System on Chip (SoC) within the
ANNA-B112 module; this means that the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module is available.
The sensor hub and the microcontroller exchange information using the SPI protocol, which,
in turn, exchange information with the BME688 using the same protocol. It is possible to read
data from the BME688 and send it to a receiving wireless device via BLE or a UART.
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 12 of 27

5. Experimental Setup
This work experimentally investigates the capability of the BME688 environmental sensor to
provide useful and detailed information about air quality. For this purpose, three experimental
setups have been designed to perform measurements in free and controlled environments.
The Arduino Nicla Sense ME boards have been programmed to output, through
Bluetooth or UART, the following data:
• Raw value of temperature in degrees Celsius, T [◦ C];
• Raw value of relative humidity, RH [%];
• Raw value of pressure, P [mbar];
• Raw value of the sensor resistance, gas resistance [kΩ];
• Estimated value of CO2 , CO2eq [ppm];
• Index of air quality by Bosch, in arbitrary units, from 0 to 500, IAQ.

5.1. Office Space Experimental Setup

As shown in the introduction, the BME688’s main application destination is HVAC,
and monitoring polluted air generated by breath. In order to verify the performance of
the BME688 sensor, a very simple, indoor experimental setup was considered. Two Nicla
Sense ME boards were left in a 50 m3 office for about one month, from 22 December 2023 at
10 a.m. to 20 January 2024 at 14 p.m. (29 days, 4 h).
With the exception of the first eight hours, the office HVAC was turned off, and the
office was closed for 263 h, from the start of the experiment to 2 January 2024 at 8 a.m. One
person entered the office after 483 h from the start of the experiment, staying in the office
for about 10 h, that is from 11 January 2024 at about 8 a.m. and leaving the office at about
18 p.m. Two people entered the office after 569 h from the start of the experiment, staying
for about 10 h, that is from 15 January 2024 at about 8 a.m. and leaving the office at about
18 p.m. This was repeated from Monday to Friday.

5.2. Climatic Chamber Setup

The behavior of the BME688 sensor was evaluated under controlled environment
conditions. To achieve this, the ACS DY110 climatic chamber, a programmable test chamber
specifically designed by ACS (Angelantoni Test Technologies “ACS: Camere per prove
ambientali simulate dal 1952”. Available online: https://www.acstestchambers.com/it/
(accessed on 11 April 2024)) for precise thermal characterization of small components,
was used.
The DY110 chamber, shown in Figure 3a, offers a capacity of 110 L, and features
external dimensions of approximately 877 × 1080 × 1434 mm. A crucial feature of the
instrument is the precise temperature control, in a range from −40 ◦ C to +180 ◦ C with
rather small fluctuations, typically not exceeding ±0.3 ◦ C. Heating and cooling rates are
close to 3 ◦ C min−1 and 4 ◦ C min−1 , respectively. For applications requiring combined
temperature and humidity control, the DY110 test chamber is able to set humidity levels
between 10% and 95%, with fluctuations generally smaller than ±3%. Such a wide range
can be particularly useful for simulating real-world environments that encompass both
temperature and humidity variations. By leveraging the capabilities of the DY110 climatic
chamber, valuable insights into the BME688 sensor’s accuracy and stability can be gained.
The Nicla Sense ME board was placed hanging on the grid frame inside the chamber,
as in Figure 3b, specifically at the center of the inner volume of the chamber, in order
not to suffer from excessive ventilation due to the compressor or very small gradients of
temperature and humidity at the edges of the working volume. In this setup, the board
was powered via USB, exploiting the chamber’s lateral porthole, while data were read
through Bluetooth. The Data Acquisition (DAQ) system was purposely devised using a
Raspberry Pi 3+, which managed and monitored the BLE connection to the board inside
the chamber. This single-board controller offers off-the-shelf functionalities and modules
that comprehend, but are not limited to, WiFi and Bluetooth connections, as well as a fully
functional, customizable Linux-based OS system. Such a device was preferred over others
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 13 of 27

for the ability to use high-level programming languages for the acquisition suite, so as to
enable fast development and deployment, given the large availability of libraries dealing
with low-level communication and data processing.

(a) (b)

Figure 3. The ACS DY110 test chamber adopted for the characterization of the BME866 sensor
(a) and the Nicla Sense ME placed inside the active volume of the chamber (b).

The demonstrator architecture is reported in Figure 4. The Nicla Sense ME board

gathers data from each sensor mounted on the board through requests managed by the
sensor hub. A unique timestamp is associated with the record of measured values. The
DAQ draws from the meaningful services provided by the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
peripheral, the Nicla Sense ME board, and logs them in a local database. The software
is not only responsible for getting and logging the data but also for ensuring that these
are consistent in terms of format and frequency of acquisition and tunable to the needs of
the experiment. Furthermore, it ensures that the Bluetooth connection is maintained or
recovered if lost. The readout data are stored properly in a file containing, in each row,
the record acquired through the communication, comprising the timestamp, temperature,
humidity, and gas resistance data.

Nicla Sense ME
Raspberry Pi 3B+
BME688
BLE
Module
SPI

Sensor Hub Data

BHI260AP Reader
Script
SPI

parsed data
Micro BLE
Module

ANNA-B112
.TSV

Figure 4. Demonstrator information flow. The devices and the integrated components are highlighted.
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 14 of 27

5.3. Fluxing Chamber Setup

The setup consisted of a sealed custom stainless-steel chamber (1 liter volume) located
inside a climatic chamber (MPM Instruments s.r.l “Incubatore refrigerato-Refrigerating
incubator”. Available online: http://www.mpminstruments.com/Tbr.htm (accessed on
11 April 2024)) with a PID thermo-regulator, able to maintain the inner temperature in
a 5.0–80.0 ◦ C range with ±0.5 ◦ C stability. The use of a climatic chamber allowed the
performance of measurements at different ambient temperatures, regardless of the room
temperature. In particular, measurements were performed at 10, 20, and 30 ◦ C.
Humidified air was produced by synthetic dry air through a Drechsel bottle, held
in a thermostatic bath (MPM Instruments s.r.l “Bagno refrigerato - Refrigerator thermo-
static bath.” Available online: http://www.mpminstruments.com/Bmr.htm (accessed on
11 April 2024)) at 5 ◦ C higher than the selected ambient temperature, and then in a conden-
sation vessel in order to favor the condensation of saturated vapor. The thermostatic bath
had a temperature range from 5.0 to 99.9 ◦ C, with an accuracy of ±0.5 ◦ C at 37 ◦ C. The
humidified air was then mixed with synthetic dry air in order to obtain the desired relative
humidity (RH) content from 0% to 80%. The mass flow controllers adopted for the fluxing
setup (MKS Instruments “MKS 1179C01352CR1BV Mass Flow Controller”. Available online:
https://www.mks.com/p/1179C01352CR1BV (accessed on 2 May 2024)) mixed the differ-
ent gasses, maintaining the total flow of 200 SCCM inside the test chamber. These mass flow
controllers had a control range of 2–100% with an accuracy of ±1.0 % of the full scale. Two
Nicla Sense ME boards were placed inside the stainless-steel fluxing chamber; however,
due to the presence of two metallic sealed enclosures, the DAQ system previously described
was not effective in this setup. For this reason, a custom board was used in order to provide
power and mechanically support the two Niclas. An externally placed laboratory power
supply provided power to the system (Thurlby Thandar instruments “PL330DP-DC Power
Supply”. Datasheet available online: https://www.sglabs.it/public/TTI_PL330DP.pdf
(accessed on 1 May 2024)); meanwhile, the devices were programmed to transmit the
acquired data via a serial connection (UART). To overcome noise disturbances from other
equipment, RS-232 levels and adequate circuitry were used to transmit data. As previously
described, data were collected by means of a Raspberry Pi and stored in a plain text file.
A picture of the fluxing-chamber setup is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5a shows the
interior of the climatic chamber with the custom 1 L volume stainless-steel chamber opened
and divided into two parts: the fixed chamber and the removable part (on the bottom) with
transistor carriers and a sealed BNC connection. Figure 5b shows the custom carrier board
for the two Nicla Sense ME; it is possible to see the two Nicla Sense ME boards and the
serial transceiver (blue boards).
We used a flow-through technique to investigate the response of the BME688 sensor,
as reported in a previous study [50]. After positioning the custom board with the two
Nicla, connecting the wires, and closing the stainless-steel chamber, several tests were
performed to assess the behavior of the system. Initially, three tests were performed at
fixed temperatures of 10, 20, and 30 ◦ C, respectively, to verify if, with the rise in relative
humidity, the IAQ indicator, and CO2 estimation continued to be reliable and stayed within
acceptable thresholds; different levels of controlled relative humidity were achieved for
each test, resulting in the following profile: (a) the board was turned on in presence of a
humid air flow of 200 SCCM at a relative humidity of 20% for 2 h, (b) relative humidity
was then increased to 40% for 1 h, (c) relative humidity was further raised to 70% for 1 h,
(d) relative humidity was then reduced back to 40% for 1 h, and (e) relative humidity was
again decreased to 20% for 2 h. Each test had a total duration of 7 h.
Two other tests were performed at a temperature of 20 ◦ C and relative humidity of
20% in order to verify Nicla’s outputs in the presence of CO and CO2 , respectively. Test
gasses with a certified composition, supplied by SOL S.p.A. (“SOL GROUP-Technical and
Medical Gases”. Available online: https://www.sol.it/it (accessed on 11 April 2024)), were
mixed in a carrier of dry synthetic air by mass flow controllers, maintaining the total flow
of 200 SCCM. Gas concentrations of various analytes (CO and CO2 ) were chosen based on
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 15 of 27

a possible application of BME688 for CO2 monitoring in indoor environments. For each
concentration, gas was injected in the pipeline for 5 min but not in the test chamber to
remove any trace of previous gasses. Afterward, gas was injected into the chamber for
30 min, and then the synthetic air was restored for 1 h. CO2 and CO gas concentrations
during injections into the chamber were 600 ppm and 20 ppm, respectively; these values
were selected based on the guidelines described by the WHO. In indoor environments,
CO2 levels are often used as an indicator of occupancy due to the fact that humans exhale
CO2 when they breathe; when carbon dioxide levels exceed 600 ppm, it is typically inter-
preted as a sign of occupancy within the area. This threshold is frequently exploited as a
standard for ensuring satisfactory indoor air quality in a range of environments, such as
workplaces, educational facilities, and communal areas. Conversely, CO is not a byproduct
of human activity, but rather a result of the incomplete combustion of fuels containing
carbon; a presence of 20 ppm of CO in the atmosphere may suggest the proximity of
combustion sources. Although this concentration is deemed low, it is crucial to address it
promptly, as prolonged exposure to even minimal levels of carbon monoxide can lead to
negative health consequences.

(a) (b)

Figure 5. Fluxing chamber setup. Custom stainless-steel chamber (1 L volume) located inside
M120-TBR climatic chamber (a) and details of the connection of the Nicla Sense ME to metallic
transistor outline (b).

6. Experimental Results
This section shows and discusses the results of the measurements in the experimental
setups described in the previous section.

6.1. Tests in Office

Two Devices Under Test (DUTs), namely Nicla1 and Nicla2 , were placed in an indoor
environment as described in the previous section. All the available raw measures plus the
estimated CO2 and IAQ of the two devices were acquired and stored in order to be further
post-processed.
Figure 6 shows the behavior for Nicla1 and Nicla2 for temperature (T) in degrees Celsius,
relative humidity (RH) in percentage, pressure (P) in mbar, resistance of sensor (RES) in kΩ,
estimated CO2 in ppm and the index of air quality (IAQ) by Bosch, in arbitrary units (a.u.)
from 0 to 500 with a threshold at about 250. As it is possible to see from the picture, the
measurements made by the two devices show a very good agreement. This behavior is also
reported in Table 4, where the statistical values (mean value µ, standard deviation σ, and
maximum excursion ∆) for the measured quantities T, RH, and P of the previous acquisition
are reported. The GAS resistance correlation between Nicla1 and Nicla2 is 0.92, while it reaches
0.95 and 0.93 for CO2eq and IAQ, respectively. It should be noted that estimated CO2 is limited
to below 500 ppm (default value), which is close to the value of outdoor air (400–500 ppm).
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 16 of 27

The value of IAQ, whose lower limit is 25, corresponding to the output value during the sensor
initialization phase, reports a saturation around 250 if there are no people in the room; that is,
the CO2eq is below a few thousand parts per million. T and RH are raw, uncompensated data;
simple linear compensation can be done to achieve the correct results. It should be noted that
when comparing the measured temperature results with a sensor Sensirion SHT31, an offset
of about 7 ◦ C is present.

40

30

20

0 5 10 15 20 25

50

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

1200
1100
1000
900
0 5 10 15 20 25

40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

500

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

5000

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

Figure 6. Acquired measurements (T, RH, P, RES, CO2eq , and IAQ) of the experiments in the office
space for the Nicla1 (in blue) and Nicla2 (in red).

Table 4. Statistics of raw values of T, RH, and P from Nicla1 and Nicla2 .

T RH P
Nicla [◦ C] [%] [mbar]
µ σ ∆ µ σ ∆ µ σ ∆
1 23.7 4.7 19.7 26.2 8.5 21.0 995 10 37
2 23.7 4.7 20.9 25.7 8.5 22.0 995 10 37
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 17 of 27

The estimated peak value of CO2 concentration of about 4000 ppm with one person in
the office occurred at day 20 and partially at day 21, and a concentration of about 6000 ppm
with two persons was registered from days from 24 to 28; these measurements are in
accordance with the expected value due to the presence of two persons in the room. The
air conditioning system gets air from outdoors, where the expected CO2 concentration
is typically 400 ppm (Data taken from NOOA Global Monitoring Laboratory “Trends
in CO2 , CH4 , N2 O, SF6 —Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases”. Available online: https://
gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/global.html (accessed on 2 May 2024)). One person at rest
produces about 500 L daily of CO2 (Brian Palmer “Do We Exhale Carbon?” Available
online: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/do-we-exhale-carbon (accessed on 8 May 2024));
so, in about 8 h, the production is about 165 L, and in an office of about 50 m3 , it is about
3300 ppm, with an overall value of about 3700 ppm.
The approximately one-month worth of experimental results were divided into three
logic portions: when the office is not air-conditioned and empty, when the office is air-
conditioned and empty, and when the office is air-conditioned and occupied. In order
to obtain an indication of the strength of the linear relationship among each couple of
measured quantities, the Pearson linear correlation coefficient [51] ρ xy was calculated as (1):

∑k ( x [k ] − µ x ) y[k ] − µy


ρ xy = , (1)
σx σy

where µ x and µy are the mean values of the generic signals x [k] and y[k], while σx and σy
are the standard deviations of the measures. In Table 5, the correlation ρ xy is calculated for
the Nicla1 measurements limited from 26 December 2023 at 00:00 to 2 January 2024 at 00:00,
exactly one week, during which the office was empty and not air-conditioned.
This is the case that is the most similar to the outdoor environment.

Table 5. Pearson correlation matrix with office empty and not air-conditioned for Nicla1 .

ρ xy x
RH P RES CO2eq IAQ
T −0.473 0.263 −0.761 0.063 0.051
RH 1.000 −0.855 0.312 −0.210 −0.203
y P 1.000 −0.366 0.400 0.398
RES 1.000 −0.512 −0.517
CO2eq 1.000 0.974

The correlation reported in Table 6 refers to days 2nd–5th and 8th–10th of January
from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the office air-conditioned but empty.

Table 6. Pearson correlation matrix with office empty and air-conditioned for Nicla1 .

ρ xy x
RH P RES CO2eq IAQ
T 0.296 −0.417 −0.271 −0.313 −0.331
RH 1.000 −0.846 −0.803 −0.489 −0.615
y P 1.000 0.687 0.662 0.751
RES 1.000 0.233 0.413
CO2eq 1.000 0.932

The correlation reported in Table 7 is related to days 11th, 12th, and 15th–19th January,
with the office air-conditioned and occupied.
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 18 of 27

Table 7. Pearson correlation with office air-conditioned and occupied for Nicla1 .

ρ xy x
RH P RES CO2eq IAQ
T 0.186 −0.267 −0.229 0.193 0.091
RH 1.000 −0.813 −0.357 0.009 −0.116
y P 1.000 0.474 −0.149 −0.027
RES 1.000 −0.878 −0.735
CO2eq 1.000 0.891

The three tables show a high correlation between the estimated CO2 and IAQ, of
about 90%, and a high correlation between RH and P, of more than 80%, similar to outdoor
conditions. Without air conditioning and without people adding CO2 and VOCs, the
gas resistance shows a high correlation with temperature, of more than 75%, while this
value decreases to below 30% in the presence of air conditioning. In the presence of air
conditioning but without persons, the gas resistance shows a high correlation with relative
humidity, while, in the presence of persons, the correlation with CO2 is dominant.

6.2. Tests in Climatic Chamber

The data collection campaign inside the chamber lasted about one week, from
Friday 15 December 2023 at 11:10 a.m. to Friday 22 December 2023 at 13:45 p.m. with a
constant temperature of 25.00 (3) ◦ C and a constant relative humidity of 35.00 (33)% set
by the climatic chamber itself. The values sent by the Nicla Sense ME board are reported
in Figure 7. It is worth noting that the Nicla Sense ME employed during this experiment
(Nicla3 ) is a different one from the two used in the previous experiments. The first two days
(16 December 2023 and 17 December 2023) were a Saturday and a Sunday, days in which
the air conditioning system of the environment external to the chamber was off, while the
rest of the days (from 18 December 2023 to 12 December 2023) were normal working days,
with normal air conditioning. A more marked variation of gas resistance can be ascribed to
both air conditioning status and people’s presence during working days.
Starting from the raw value of temperature, Nicla3 reports a relatively stable reading
of 27.55 (6) ◦ C over the whole experiment time, after an initial settling which reports higher
temperatures. There is an underlying periodicity in the temperature measurements, limited
within 2 ◦ C, more marked from the third day onward, of about 24 h. Another important
factor to highlight is the offset from the actual average temperature climatic chamber
set-point, with the average temperature reading of the Nicla3 of about +2.55 ◦ C, an effect
which is expected in sensors, which needs to be properly calibrated. The RH reading is
very stable across the week of measurement, with variations due to sensor resolution.
The Pearson correlation matrix was computed starting from Sunday, 18 December
2023 at midnight to Friday 22 December 2023 at 13:45 p.m., in order to avoid the initial
set-up period of the sensor. Values are reported in Table 8. Thanks to the controlled
RH, the correlation between gas resistance and RH practically disappears; however, gas
resistance is correlated with pressure, which is not controlled by the climatic chamber, and
to the CO2 , because the air is obtained from the laboratory in which the climatic chamber
is located. Independently from fluctuations with a periodicity of 24 h of gas resistance
and temperature, which are also visible in Figure 8, their correlation value is very low,
suggesting an imperfect isolation of the chamber from the external environment.

Table 8. Pearson correlation matrix within the climatic chamber office for Nicla3 .

ρ xy x
RH P RES CO2eq IAQ
T −0.049 −0.091 0.021 0.064 0.127
RH 1.000 −0.116 0.092 −0.131 −0.172
y P 1.000 −0.616 0.073 0.135
RES 1.000 −0.709 −0.761
CO2eq 1.000 0.975
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 19 of 27

40

30

20
1 2 3 4 5 6

50

0
1 2 3 4 5 6

1000

980
1 2 3 4 5 6

30

20

10
1 2 3 4 5 6

500

0
1 2 3 4 5 6

1000

500
1 2 3 4 5 6

Figure 7. Measures (T, RH, P, RES, and CO2eq , IAQ) acquired in the climatic chamber for Nicla3 .
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 20 of 27

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

120

100

80

60

40

20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1500

1000

500
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Figure 8. Behavior of RH, IAQ, CO2eq , and RES of Nicla1 (in blue) and Nicla2 (in red) at a temperature
of 20 ◦ C in the fluxing chamber.

6.3. Tests with CO2 and CO in the Fluxing Chamber

The purpose of the following measurements is to verify the use of the BME688 smart
sensor outdoors, mounted on fully sustainable e-bike charging stations, for which the
device was chosen based on its low-power characteristics. The first test was to check
whether, as relative humidity increased, the IAQ indicator and CO2 estimation were still
reliable and remained within acceptable limits.
Considering the fluxing chamber described in the previous section, two Nicla Sense
ME boards, Nicla1 and Nicla2 , were placed in the chamber, and the air was flushed at a
temperature of 20 ◦ C and relative humidity of 20% for 2 h in order to stabilize the readings
of T, RH, and RES and the estimations of CO2 and IAQ made by BME688.
In Figure 8, the measurements made by Nicla1 and Nicla2 are reported. The collected
measurements follow the test changes in relative humidity. In fact, as it is possible to
observe, after the first 2 h, the relative humidity was raised to 40% for 1 h, then it was
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 21 of 27

raised to 70% for the successive hour, then set again to 40% for 1 h, and finally adjusted
again to 20% for 2 h, for a total of about 7 h of experiment. Even if the RH sensor was never
calibrated, the measurements from the two devices are consistent, and a good agreement
between the Nicla1 and Nicla2 is visible in the reported figure. The pressure measurements
remain very stable during the entire test duration, with a standard deviation of 0.1 mbar
computed over the 7 h of the experiment. The measurement of the raw gas resistance value
differs between the two boards, but the trend is very similar, with a correlation coefficient
between Nicla1 and Nicla2 of 0.99, calculated after the first half-hour to avoid the initial
transient to the end of the experiment. It is worth noting how, for both Nicla, the falling
time of RES, corresponding to the increase in RH, equal to about 10 min, is smaller than the
rise time, equal to about 16 min, indicating how it is more complex to evaporate moisture
with low-power thermal cycles. In addition, it is possible to see two peaks in the readings
of gas resistance for both Niclas; this is due to glitches in the power supply interrupting the
heating of the sensors.
Table 9 shows the cross-correlation matrix considering the central five hours only. This
table reports a very high value of correlation between CO2 and IAQ, of the same order as
the correlation between gas resistance and relative humidity. There is also a high correlation
between CO2 and RH and between IAQ and RH, as expected. The high correlation between
T and RH depends on the fluxing chamber, although the overall variation of temperature is
within 0.2 ◦ C during the 7 h of experiment.

Table 9. Pearson correlation matrix within the fluxing chamber during RH cycle for Nicla3 .

ρ xy x
RH P RES CO2eq IAQ
T 0.708 −0.397 −0.703 0.277 0.229
RH 1.000 −0.235 −0.978 0.690 0.635
y P 1.000 0.221 0.113 0.149
RES 1.000 −0.568 −0.517
CO2eq 1.000 0.989

The relative humidity cycle previously described was repeated at different temperatures:
T = 10, 20, and 30 ◦ C. Table 10 shows the mean values of gas resistance, CO2 , and IAQ at
different relative humidities and different temperatures measured by the Nicla1 subject to the
test within the fluxing chamber. As for the previous tests, the mean values were computed
only on the last 30 min of each cycle (e.g., referring to Figure 8, the mean value for T = 20 ◦ C
and RH = 20% refers to the mean value from hour 1:30 to hour 2:00 and from 5:30 to hour 6:00;
for T = 20 ◦ C and RH = 40%, the mean value was computed from hour 2:30 to hour 3:00 and
from hour 4:30 to 5:00; and for T = 20 ◦ C and RH = 70%, the mean value was calculated from
hour 3:30 to hour 4:00). From the results reported, it is possible to note that gas resistance
strongly depends on temperature and relative humidity, varying by one order of magnitude
from T = 20 ◦ C and RH = 20% to T = 20 ◦ C and RH = 70%. The CO2 readouts remain within
the standard deviation value, about 50 ppm if RH is below the 40%, but it sensibly varies
when relative humidity reaches 70%. This CO2 estimation variation increases according to
the temperature and, for T = 30 ◦ C, it is three times the value related to RH = 40%. The
IAQ readout sensibly increases only with RH = 70%, but the high humidity worsens the
perceived air quality both with low temperature and with high temperature, according to
human perception; the best value is with T = 20 ◦ C with a standard deviation of about 10 a.u.
In order to verify the Nicla output in presence of a controlled flux of CO2 gas, 600 ppm
of CO2 was injected for 30 min at a temperature of 20 ◦ C with a relative humidity of 20%.
Figure 9 shows the response, in terms of GAS resistance, CO2 , and IAQ, to the injection and
one hour before and one hour after. The mean value of estimated CO2 , from hour 1:15 to hour
1:30, is 1332.7 ppm, which is quite different from the real value of 600 ppm. It should be noted
that the fluxing chamber mixes dried purified air, with a concentration of CO2 of around
400 ppm, with CO2 from a bottle, and the 600 ppm is the gap between before and after the
injection. If we compute the gap between the mean value of estimated CO2 fifteen minutes
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 22 of 27

before the injection and the mean value from hour 1:15 and hour 1:30, it is equal to 616.4 ppm,
which is quite similar to 600 ppm. Concerning the value of the IAQ, which increases from
about 100 to about 240, it shows the same behavior analyzed with the test in the office: the
value of 250 is quite simple to reach even with a variation of temperature or humidity, while
values higher than 250 are related to thousands of parts per million of CO2 .

Table 10. Mean values of resistance (RES), estimated CO2 (CO2eq ), and IAQ within the fluxing
chamber for the Nicla1 .

RES CO2eq
IAQ
[kΩ] [ppm]
RH
20% 70% 70% 20% 70% 70% 20% 70% 70%
T
10 ◦ C 228.5 157.6 102.5 644.2 618.1 906.4 96.4 89.8 174.9
20 ◦ C 133.3 84.3 48.7 674.4 573.2 1321.1 49.9 37.7 102.5
30 ◦ C 84.1 51.1 27.0 581.1 629.9 1968.4 65.1 80.8 243.1

95

90

85

80

75

70
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

1500

1000

500
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Figure 9. Behavior of gas resistance, CO2eq , and IAQ of Nicla1 at T = 20 ◦ C and RH = 20% in the
fluxing chamber with an injection of CO2 with 600 ppm concentration.

An important pollutant to be estimated in outdoor monitoring is CO, especially to

detect wildfire events, as already demonstrated in [52]. In order to verify the Nicla response
in the presence of this pollutant, a controlled flux of CO with a concentration of 20 ppm
was injected for 30 min at a temperature of 20 ◦ C and a relative humidity of 20%. Figure 10
shows the response, in terms of gas resistance, CO2 , and IAQ, to this gas injection with a
buffer period, in which no injection was present, of one hour before and one hour after. It
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 23 of 27

should be noted that the baseline value of gas resistance is different from the value during
the CO2 injection, but this is quite normal because the measurements were collected 12 days
apart and the gas resistance value was affected by drift, a known issue of metal oxide gas
sensors [53]. The gas resistance variation is negative in both injections; however, it is much
more evident in presence of CO than with CO2 . Comparing the two results, it is possible
to note that, in the presence of CO at 20 ppm, the gas resistance decreases by about 80 kΩ,
while with the injection of CO2 at 600 ppm, it varies by about 20 kΩ. This result, indicates a
very good sensitivity with respect to CO. The CO2 readout is higher than 5000 ppm, a value
that has a similar negative effect on persons; exposure limits recommendations previously
reported (e.g., ECHA) are almost the same for 5000 ppm of CO2 and 20 ppm of CO. The
IAQ readout remains below the 250 threshold, although the tests in the office show that in
the presence of 5000 ppm of CO2 or more, the IAQ exceeds 300.

140

120

100

80

60

40
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

6000

4000

2000

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Figure 10. Behavior of gas resistance, CO2eq , and IAQ of Nicla1 at T = 20 ◦ C and RH = 20% in the
fluxing chamber with an injection of CO with 20 ppm concentration.

6.4. Results Comparison

In order to further investigate the previously highlighted correlation, the statistical de-
pendence between the rankings of IAQ and the other measures obtained from the BME688
was evaluated. In Table 11, the PCC is compared against Spearman’s rank correlation
coefficient (SRCC), calculated as follows:

cov( R( x ), R(y))
r xy = , (2)
σR( x) σR(y)
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 24 of 27

where R( x ) and R(y) are the rank variables relative to the x and y measurements, cov is
the covariance operator, and σR( x) and σR(y) are the standard deviations of the two rank
variables. In the table, the PCC and SRCC are calculated in three different scenarios:
• Studio setup: consisting of the overall acquisition in the experimental setup previously
described, where temperature and humidity are not directly controlled;
• Fluxing chamber: consisting of the acquisitions made at a constant temperature of
20 ◦ C in the fluxing chamber with a varying relative humidity as previously reported;
• Climatic chamber: consisting of the measurements gathered in the climatic chamber
setup where both temperature and relative humidity are maintained constant.

Table 11. Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (SRCC)
for IAQ in different experimental tests.

Studio Setup Fluxing Chamber Climatic Chamber

Nicla1 Nicla2 Nicla1 Nicla2 Nicla3
PCC SRCC PCC SRCC PCC SRCC PCC SRCC PCC SRCC
T 0.125 0.037 0.169 0.088 0.229 0.096 0.417 0.519 −0.065 −0.114
RH −0.127 −0.120 −0.204 −0.194 0.635 0.175 0.858 0.837 −0.014 0.018
P 0.253 0.260 0.256 0.268 0.149 0.359 −0.096 −0.073 −0.169 −0.196
RES −0.108 −0.092 −0.005 −0.004 −0.517 −0.258 −0.840 −0.873 −0.013 0.035
CO2eq 0.666 0.924 0.660 0.926 0.989 0.997 0.983 0.971 0.976 0.998

As an immediate result, it is possible to confirm the correlation between the IAQ and
the CO2eq estimation; this is confirmed by the minimum calculated SRCC value of 0.924
in all the reported experiments. The scarce direct dependence of the IAQ estimation is
also evident from the measured variables (T, RH, P, and RES); in fact, both PCC and SRCC
are, in most of the cases, lower than 0.3. In the case of fluxing chamber results, where the
humidity was cycled, the IAQ has a high correlation with the measured gas resistance and
the relative humidity; in this case, SRCC reports an inverse correlation between the the IAQ
and RES variables with a minimum value of 0.25. When the temperature and humidity are
under the control of the climatic chamber, the dependence of the IAQ from temperature,
relative humidity, and pressure is limited to 0.2; meanwhile, its correlation with the gas
resistance is almost negligible.

7. Conclusions
Air quality monitoring is a key topic for people riding bikes and e-bikes. In this paper,
an air quality sensor designed for HVAC was tested to be used as an outdoor low-power,
low-cost sensors to indicate the perceived air quality, preventing health risks. The Nicla
Sense ME, based on the BME688 sensor by Bosch, was used with a special attention given
to raw values, to the estimated CO2 equivalent, and the index for air quality IAQ. Three
setups were designed to test the sensor behavior indoors: in a non-controlled environment,
in a climatic chamber controlling temperature and relative humidity, and in a 1 L fluxing
chamber controlling temperature, relative humidity, and gas.
According to the measurements made in the climatic chamber setup, experimental
results show that temperature, humidity, and pressure readouts are stable and precise. On
the other hand, as also suggested by the manufacturer, the sensor has a good sensitivity
with respect to CO2 and CO, as was demonstrated with the readings of the gas resistance
at different concentrations of the two gasses in the tests carried out in the fluxing chamber.
The CO2 equivalent is a good parameter indicating the pollution perceived by humans; the
experiments showed how 20 ppm of CO was considered equivalent to 5000 ppm of CO2 as
a threshold of attention.
Compared to the direct measurement and to the CO2 estimation made by the sensor,
the IAQ value is not a reliable indication for assessing the overall perceived air quality in
the outdoor environment. As was shown in the experiments, the IAQ value remained below
the threshold of 250 for variations of temperature, humidity, and for CO injections, while
Sensors 2024, 24, 3170 25 of 27

it exceeded this threshold indoors and in crowed rooms. The BME688 built-in software
appeared to compensate for the effect of temperature and relative humidity on CO2 and
IAQ estimates, as shown in the experiments carried out in the fluxing chamber. However,
in the presence of large relative humidity (e.g., T = 30 ◦ C and RH = 70%), an overestimate
of CO2 (more than 1000 ppm) was detected. Therefore, in order to use this sensor for
outdoor applications where it is plausible to reach high percentages of humidity, additional
compensation mechanisms should be designed.
Future work could exploit heating profile modulation supported by BME688 with
respect to the environmental conditions and the expected pollutants. Moreover, additional
experiments should be carried out in an outdoor environment where humidity and tem-
perature conditions can not be controlled and maintained like in the thermal chamber
and fluxing chamber presented in this work. Multi-sensor platforms and combinations of
different sensing technologies in conjunction with ad hoc constructed AI models could also
be investigated.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization and methodology, A.F. and D.Z.; software, S.D.I., A.G.,
P.L. and M.V.; formal analysis, S.D.I. and P.L.; investigation and validation, S.B., S.D.I., A.G.,
L.G. (Luca Ghislotti), P.L., M.V. and D.Z.; data curation, S.B., S.D.I., A.G., L.G. (Luca Ghislotti),
P.L. and M.V.; writing—original draft preparation, S.B., S.D.I., A.F., L.G. (Luigi Gaioni), A.G.,
L.G. (Luca Ghislotti), P.L., M.V. and D.Z.; all the authors contributed to writing—review and editing;
visualization, S.B., S.D.I., A.G., L.G. (Luca Ghislotti) and P.L.; supervision, E.C., A.F., V.R. and E.S.;
project administration and funding acquisition, E.C. and A.F. All authors have read and agreed to the
published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This study was carried out within the MOST—Sustainable Mobility National Research
Center and received funding from the European Union Next-GenerationEU (PIANO NAZIONALE
DI RIPRESA E RESILIENZA (PNRR)—MISSIONE 4 COMPONENTE 2, INVESTIMENTO 1.4-D.D.
1033 17 June 2022, CN00000023), Spoke 5 “Light Vehicle and Active Mobility”.
Data Availability Statement: Data are contained within the article.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations used in Table 1:

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Cal/OSHA California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration
NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
ACGIH American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists
ECHA European Chemicals Agency
PEL Permissible Exposure Level
REL Recommended Exposure Level
OELs Occupational Exposure Limits
ST STEL—Short Term Exposure Limit
C Ceiling
TWA Time-Weighted Average

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