Preserve the signal
Retain the complete accessible sensor output—not only a dashboard PM₂.₅ value.
Research pilot · Open development
Open instruments.
Complete data.
Resilient field science.
A research-first particulate matter sensing platform designed to keep measuring through network failures, preserve every accessible sensor output, and make trustworthy air-quality research easier to share.
Measurements are for research and education—not regulatory decisions or health alerts.
FIELD NODE
SPS30 Research
Sampling
PM outputs10
Local recoverySD
PublishingPrivate
Expect disconnection
Keep sampling locally and recover uploads without logical duplicates.
Publish deliberately
Devices begin private. Public locations and data require separate approval.
The platform
From field observation to usable scientific record
The everyday experience stays simple while the system handles provenance, offline recovery, authentication, and privacy in the background.
Measure locally
ESP32-S3 nodes collect complete SPS30 output together with environmental, timing, firmware, and quality metadata.
- Mass and number concentrations
- Temperature, humidity, and diagnostics
- Persistent SD buffering
Store reliably
At-least-once delivery and stable observation identifiers allow safe retry after Wi-Fi or server interruptions.
- Accepted means committed
- Idempotent batch ingestion
- Immutable raw observations
Share with context
Approved deployments can publish carefully selected data, location precision, attribution, and quality information.
- Private by default
- Deployment-specific consent
- Public API field allowlist
Research direction
More than a low-cost concentration reading
Optical PM sensors respond to particle size, humidity, composition, optical properties, and instrument state. Open PM Network preserves the inputs needed to study those influences rather than hiding them behind a single number.
Current boundary
Low-cost measurements are not substitutes for regulatory or research-grade reference methods. Corrections must be validated against clearly defined, collocated reference measurements.
Complete output retention
Keep manufacturer-accessible measurements, status fields, and unknown future schema fields for reprocessing.
Physics-informed calibration
Evaluate how size, humidity, hygroscopicity, and optical properties influence sensor response.
Uncertainty-aware QA/QC
Pair corrected values with quality flags, calibration domain checks, and sensor-health evidence.
Event-responsive sampling
Explore plume detection and autonomous control of filter sampling for subsequent analysis.
21
days
of preliminary outdoor field comparison completed in the Atlanta region
Early field work
Encouraging consistency, carefully described
The first outdoor SPS30 deployment achieved 97.3% coverage of eligible hourly bins and followed major variations seen across nearby sensor networks. Because the instruments were not collocated, this is a field consistency check—not a calibration or accuracy validation.
Read the public field reportCommunity and classrooms
Simple participation without giving up data governance
The first community workflow is designed around three actions: add a sensor, view or download data, and choose whether to make a deployment public.
Teacher-managed pilots
School staff manage devices. Students can explore approved classroom data without creating personal accounts.
Location privacy
Private and public coordinates are separate. Owners choose the public location precision and preview it before approval.
Responsible openness
Public data includes attribution, units, quality context, and a clear distinction between access approval and scientific certification.
Roadmap
Start small.
Build evidence.
Open carefully.
- Phase 1Research team pilot
Validate complete SPS30 data capture, offline recovery, private uploads, and deployment history with 2–20 nodes.
- Phase 2K–12 pilot
Add teacher-managed deployment, simple classroom views, downloads, and school-level attribution.
- Phase 3Public community network
Expand self-service registration, public APIs, integrations, and governance when real demand appears.
Data portal
Private pilot access is being prepared.
The sensor portal will open at pm.openpmnetwork.org after authentication, ingestion, and privacy checks are complete.