As these compounds can be detected in the environment before there are visible traces of microbial growth, their use as indicators of biocontamination is spreading. The real-time monitoring of air quality, especially in indoor environments, allows to derive a spatial and temporal distribution of both chemical and biological pollutants, a fundamental condition for building risk prediction models. At present, despite the advances in environmental sensors in recent years (for solid particles, gases and volatile substances), instruments with low costs, portability and ease of use capable of guaranteeing widespread and reliable monitoring of the environments are not yet available. Work:
necessary condition to limit risks in real time and support decision-making processes by security managers. In addition to the detection, the instruments currently in use also hardly allow the sampling of the various pollutants, in particular those associated with fine dust, for subsequent more accurate analyzes to be carried out in the laboratory.


This project therefore proposes the development of compact, modular and low-cost sensory systems, for the real-time analysis of chemical and / or biological pollutants that can be optimized for the various work environments. These systems will consist of subsystems that can be assembled according to needs: volatile compounds sensors, solid sample analyzers, gas and dust samplers, preconcentration meters for volatile compounds, interface electronics and communication systems, data processing and presentation software. The communication electronics will be based on wireless mode. Low consumption electronic systems will be privileged in order to guarantee complete portability. For this purpose, mobile devices such as tablets and smart-phones will be considered for data presentation and information management. In the initial phase of the project, the possible application scenarios, the volatile substances of interest and the main interferents to be considered will be selected. An example of application will concern the monitoring of styrene, a characteristic pollutant in fiberglass processing plants and in the automotive industry. The possibility of monitoring some microorganisms through the analysis of volatile metabolites will also be investigated. The possibility of installing compact sensory systems on autonomous vehicles, eg, mini-robots or drones, will also be analyzed for the inspection of high-risk areas, such as post-fire scenarios or industrial environments following contaminant leaks.