Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858

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Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv

Achieving better indoor air quality with IoT systems for future buildings:
Opportunities and challenges
Xilei Dai a, Wenzhe Shang b, Junjie Liu b, , Min Xue b, Congcong Wang c
⁎
a
Department of the Built Environment, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117566, Singapore
b
Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
c
School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 100044, China

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• The IoT-based IAQ platform can provide

reliable monitoring results.
• Data-driven algorithms are able to prompt
IAQ management.
• Only 9.1 % of developed platforms
integrated data-driven models for IAQ
management.
• It is suggested to replace/recalibrate the
sensor every 4–6 months to keep reliable
monitoring.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Editor: Hai Guo With the development of IoT technology and low-cost indoor air quality (IAQ) sensors, the IoT-based IAQ monitoring
platform has garnered significant research interest and demonstrated its potential in enhancing IAQ management. This
Keywords: study presents a comprehensive review of previous research on the development and application of IoT-based IAQ
Indoor air quality platforms in different built environments. It offers detailed insights into the design and implementation of recent
Data-driven modeling
IoT-based IAQ platforms. The findings indicate that the IoT-based IAQ platforms are able to provide reliable informa-
Machine learning
Internet of things
tion for IAQ monitoring. To ensure quality control of the IoT-based IAQ platform, it is suggested to replace the sensors
Occupant-centric control every 4–6 months for reliable monitoring. In another aspect, integrating data-driven technology into the platform is
Digital twins crucial for IAQ prediction and efficient control of ventilation systems, leveraging the wealth of data available from
the IoT platform. According to recent studies that applied data-driven algorithms for IAQ management, it can be con-
firmed that the data-driven algorithms are able to prompt IAQ by providing either more information or a control strat-
egy. However, it should be noted that only 9.1 % of the developed platforms integrated data-driven models for IAQ
management. Based on our findings, current challenges and further opportunities are discussed. Future studies should
focus on integrating data-driven algorithms into IoT-based IAQ platforms and developing digital twins that can be used
for real building IAQ management. However, there is obvious tension between controlling ventilation for energy
efficiency versus better air quality. It is important to make a balance between energy efficiency and better air quality
according to the current situations of specific built environments. Also, the next generation of IoT-based IAQ platforms
should include occupants in the loop to create a more occupant-centric IAQ management approach.

⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jjliu@tju.edu.cn (J. Liu).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164858
Received 30 March 2023; Received in revised form 26 May 2023; Accepted 11 June 2023
Available online 19 June 2023
0048-9697/© 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
X. Dai et al. Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. The emerging of IoT-based IAQ platform for better IAQ management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2. The necessary of a literature review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Development and application of the IoT platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1. An overview of recently developed IoT-based IAQ platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2. Sensor performance and accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3. Long-term IAQ monitoring with IoT platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Data mining based on big data from IoT platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.1. IAQ prediction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.2. Knowledge extraction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. Prompting IAQ with the IoT platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.1. Advanced technology for ventilation control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.2. Enhanced IAQ distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.3. Computer vision for occupant-centric control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. Discussion and future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.1. Digital twin for IAQ management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.2. Explainable and transferable AI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.3. Occupant-in-the-loop for IAQ management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7. Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
CRediT authorship contribution statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Data availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Declaration of competing interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Appendix A. Supplementary data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

1. Introduction
Short-term and chronic exposure to air pollutants has been linked to in-
creased morbidity in cardiovascular, respiratory disease and inflammation
(Jiang et al., 2021; Xue et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2022), which ultimately
contributes to higher mortality rate (Abbey et al., 1999). Recent studies
also revealed that the indoor environment contains different pollutants,
which increases the disease burden for occupants (Mestl and Edwards,
2011). Considering that the majority of individuals spend more than
85 % of their time indoors (Klepeis et al., 2001), indoor air quality (IAQ)
significantly impacts overall well-being (Ali et al., 2021). Therefore,
obtaining reliable IAQ information is crucial in maintaining a satisfactory
environment.
1.1. The emerging of IoT-based IAQ platform for better IAQ management
However, a large amount of effort is needed to obtain good knowl-
edge about the IAQ for typical buildings because the IAQ process is com-
plicated. Indoor air pollution stems from various indoor and outdoor
sources. These sources encompass smoking, cooking, biomass fuel
smoke, furniture emissions, and engine exhaust from nearby traffic
(Sarigiannis et al., 2011; Hu and Zhao, 2022; Zhao et al., 2019). The spe-
cific indoor and outdoor pollution sources can vary among different
buildings. Moreover, the contribution of these pollution sources to
IAQ can fluctuate over time. For example, the introduction of outdoor-
origin pollutants is influenced by the outdoor environment (Dai et al.,
2018), while the emission of indoor-emitted pollutants is affected by
the frequency of indoor activities (Zhou et al., 2016) and various indoor
environment parameters (Liang et al., 2016). Additionally, it is worth
noting that building ventilation has substantial impacts on IAQ
(Godish and Spengler, 1996). These observations highlight the multi-
tude of factors that impact IAQ, resulting in a process characterized by
substantial uncertainty and stochasticity.
Traditionally, the investigation of IAQ has relied on the use of labora-
tory equipment. For example, Dusttrak is a widely used device to measure
particle concentrations. Many studies have employed this device to
measure indoor PM2.5 concentration for different buildings and under dif-
ferent conditions (Yassin et al., 2012; Cao et al., 2005; Jorquera et al.,
2018). The strength of these devices lies in their high accuracy, which
makes them useful for fundamental research purposes. However, these
devices are usually expensive. As a result, it is challenging to use them for
investigation with large sample sizes and long-term monitoring. In addi-
tion, these devices are usually owned by laboratory researchers, and it
also takes time to pass the investigation result to the building users. Conse-
quently, building users face difficulties in promptly addressing unexpected
IAQ issues due to the delay in receiving the relevant information.
Empowered by the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, seamless com-
munication has become achievable between individuals, processes, and
things (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things, 2021). This con-
venient communication has led to remarkable advancements in sensing
and control within various domains, including transportation (Zantalis
et al., 2019), energy (Bedi et al., 2018) and buildings (Minoli et al.,
2017). Simultaneously, commercial IAQ sensors have also experienced sub-
stantial improvements in recent years (Castell et al., 2017; Baron and
Saffell, 2017). They can be embedded in microchips and connected to the
internet through IoT technologies. As a result, it is now opportune to ex-
plore whether commercial IAQ sensors and IoT technology can enhance
the daily monitoring of IAQ, and thereby improve the energy efficiency, de-
mand flexibility, and resiliency of the ventilation system, which is an
emerging area that shows great promise for development.
Another notable advantage of the IoT-based IAQ platform is that it can
provide a chance to conduct long-term IAQ monitoring with large sample
sizes. This capability enables the collection of extensive real-time IAQ
data from different buildings under actual operating conditions. Conse-
quently, it becomes possible to leverage machine learning (ML) techniques
for analyzing the IAQ process across different buildings. ML has been used
in almost every stage of the building lifecycle, demonstrating its ability to
enhance overall building performance (Hong et al., 2020). Therefore, it is
interesting to investigate the ability of using ML to inexpensively monitor
indoor pollutants, identify their sources and facilitate effective controls to
advance IAQ management. This integration of ML with the IoT holds signif-
icant promise in improving IAQ outcomes.

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1.2. The necessary of a literature review
Several relevant review works were been conducted in previous studies
regarding IoT-based platforms for indoor air quality monitoring. Morawska
et al. (2018) provided general information for the recently developed IoT
air quality platform. They summarized the sensor specifications and various
applications of the IoT platform. Besides the stationary monitoring net-
work, the sensors can be also installed in mobile vehicles for high spatial
resolution air quality distribution, or installed on wearable devices for per-
sonal exposure estimation. They also emphasized that a significant future
expansion of monitoring networks, including indoor environments, is a po-
tential direction for personal exposure estimation. In terms of indoor air
quality monitoring, Kumar et al. (2016) summarized the commercial sensor
available for different types of pollutants. They emphasized the need to im-
prove data reliability and accuracy at the sensor level. Potential directions
suggested by the authors included the development of sensors for ultra-
fine/nanoparticle monitoring and particle number counting. They also pro-
posed the use of arrays of stand-alone solid-state gas sensors in combination
with advanced algorithms to enhance selectivity. Saini et al. (2020a,
2021a) summarized the specification of recently developed IoT–based in-
door air pollution monitoring, focusing on microcontrollers, communica-
tion technologies and sensor measurement parameters (accuracy/ranges/
operating conditions et al.). Similarly, Hapsari et al. (2018) reviewed the
application of IoT-based IAQ platforms specifically in campus environ-
ments, outlining the measurement parameter and the corresponding sensor
information. It can be seen that previous reviews have primarily focused on
the development of IoT platforms and sensors for different pollutants. As
several IoT-based IAQ platforms have been developed for large-scale IAQ
monitoring (Dai et al., 2018; López et al., 2021; Tagliabue et al., 2021),
it's necessary to comprehensively review and summarize the strengths of
monitoring IAQ using IoT-based platforms. Additionally, it's crucial to dis-
cuss how the big data collected by the IoT-based IAQ platform can be effec-
tively utilized to prompt IAQ management.
The objectives of this review are 1) to examine the feasibility of apply-
ing IoT-based IAQ platforms for daily IAQ monitoring; 2) to present the
state-of-the-art technologies that enhance our understanding of IAQ
through data collected from the IAQ platform; and 3) to explore the effec-
tiveness of advanced ventilation control strategies empowered by big
data. Lastly, we discuss the current challenges and future research opportu-
nities related to IoT-based platforms for IAQ management.
2. Method
We conducted a literature search on the academic search platforms,
Web of Science and Google Scholar. Our search includes peer-reviewed
journal articles and conference papers. The keywords used for the search
in either title, abstract, or keywords were {“indoor air quality” OR “IAQ”}
AND {“internet of thing” OR “IoT” OR “machine learning”}. Fig. 1 shows
Fig. 1. Number of publications in the field of IoT-based IAQ in the past 10 years.
3
Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858
the number of publications addressing this topic over the past 10 years
based on the search results on the Web of Science. It can be seen that the
publications on this topic show a significant increase after 2015, indicating
an increasing trend to apply IoT and machine learning technologies for bet-
ter IAQ management in recent years.
Due to a large number of recent publications, we meticulously exam-
ined search outcomes and further filtered the list to exclude irrelevant stud-
ies. We only included a paper when it fitted well with at least one subtopic
in the road map of this review. The road map of this review is shown in
Fig. 2, which mainly consists of three parts: 1) the first part is about the de-
velopment and application of the IoT-based IAQ platform; 2) the second
part focuses on the applications of data mining technologies to uncover in-
sights into the IAQ process, and 3) the third part is about applied advanced
technologies for IAQ management.
Based on the above criteria, a total of 96 papers were selected for anal-
ysis. Specifically, 55 papers were included in the Development and
Application section. In our study, we collected information about the sensor
type and accuracy, target pollutant, platform connectivity and applications
to present a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art application for
IoT-based IAQ platforms. 24 papers were reviewed in the Data Mining sec-
tion, focusing on the data-based algorithms aimed at improving our knowl-
edge about the IAQ processes. For the studies on the prediction of indoor
pollutant concentrations, we compared the prediction accuracy of different
algorithms. For the section on improving IAQ, we reviewed the algorithms
and strategies that are promising to be integrated into the IoT platform and
improve IAQ management. This part includes 17 papers.
Fig. S1 shows the keywords analysis of the reviewed paper using
VOSViewer (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010). The size of each circle and its
label represent the frequency of occurrence of each keyword, while the
lines connecting circles indicate keyword associations. Based on the figure,
indoor air quality and the Internet of Things are the most frequently men-
tioned term in the reviewed publications. Regarding pollutants, PM2.5
and CO2 are the most commonly referenced, which are often associated
with the evaluation of ventilation performance and pollution exposure.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are frequently discussed in
studies involving prediction or optimization for indoor air quality.
3. Development and application of the IoT platform
3.1. An overview of recently developed IoT-based IAQ platforms
Fig. 3 shows the general configuration of the IoT-based IAQ monitoring
platform. It consists of three parts: sensors, the central server and the termi-
nal. The sensors, acting as IoT devices, are responsible for monitoring in-
door pollutants, such as PM2.5 and VOC. The server works as the
platform's core, facilitating communication with the sensors and storing
the collected data. In addition, some IoT platforms are able to present
some key information regarding the current IAQ (Yang et al., 2014;
Chanthakit and Rattanapoka, 2018) and predict future IAQ conditions
(Tagliabue et al., 2021; Rastogi and Lohani, 2020). This visualization and
prediction work is also performed by the server. As the user interface, the
terminal presents the information provided by the server. Some IoT
platforms also enable data downloads by authorized individuals for further
analysis (Blanco-Novoa et al., 2018). Typically, the terminals are usually
developed as web applications (Marques and Pitarma, 2019a) or apps on
the phone (Marques and Pitarma, 2019b; Esfahani et al., 2020) to provide
visualized information about current IAQ status.
Table 1 summarizes the key information regarding recent studies that
developed or applied the IAQ platform. Currently, available commercial
equipment is able to monitor various pollutants, including CO2 (Di Gilio
et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2018; Pham et al., 2018), PM2.5 (Esfahani et al.,
2020; Sharma et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2020), TVOC (AI-Okby et al., 2021;
Yasin et al., 2022; Karami et al., 2018), HCHO (Zhao et al., 2022; He
et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2019), CO (Marzouk and Atef, 2022; Mumtaz
et al., 2021; Jo et al., 2020), NO2 (Benammar et al., 2018; Cho, 2015), O3
(Kumar et al., 2017; Jiang and Huacón, 2017), SO2 (Senthilkumar et al.,
X. Dai et al.
Fig. 2. Overview of the review.
2020; Asthana and Mishra, 2018), CH4 (Brunelli et al., 2014) etc. To con-
nect these sensors to the server, a common method is to install the sensors
on a chip. By doing this, the chips can receive the current/voltage signal
from the sensors and convert it to an analog signal. The converted signals
can then be sent to the server via Wi-Fi for storage or further analysis
(Saini et al., 2020a; Faiazuddin et al., 2020; Coulby et al., 2021). The
ESP8266 chip has been frequently used in previous studies (Marques
et al., 2019; Wall et al., 2021), and developers can download the manuals
from (https://www.espressif.com/en/products/socs/esp8266, 2022) to
develop the IAQ platform. Among the previously developed IoT platforms,
Wi-Fi is the most commonly used communication protocol. Besides Wi-Fi,
other common communication protocols include 4G, ZigBee, and Xbee.
Table 2 summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of these protocols. It's im-
portant for developers to consider the specific requirements and constraints
of the IoT-based IAQ platform when selecting communication protocols.
Generally speaking, Wi-Fi and 4G protocols are featured with high-speed
data transfer. However, the power consumption is relatively high. In com-
parison, ZigBee or Xbee protocols are featured with low power consump-
tion but limited covered ranges. It should be noted that IoT platforms
Fig. 3. General configuration of the IoT-based IAQ monitoring platform.
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Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858
may configure multiple communication protocols for optimal configura-
tion. For example, a common solution is to use a gateway to collect window
status sensor data using ZigBee and send the collected data to a central
server via Wi-Fi (Lai et al., 2018).
Fig. 4 shows the function of the previously developed IoT-based IAQ
platform over the years. It can be seen that most of the previously devel-
oped platforms only provide daily monitoring. However, in recent years,
data-driven technology was integrated with IoT platforms to provide IAQ
prediction information to end users. It is important to note that only a
small fraction (9.1 %) of platforms have implemented this functionality,
highlighting the need for further efforts to ensure scalability and reliability.
Fig. 5 summarized the cost associated with developing an IoT-based IAQ
monitoring unit in the reviewed publications. On average, it takes about
US $170 to develop an IAQ monitoring unit.
3.2. Sensor performance and accuracy
With the development of air sensing technology, it is possible to moni-
tor numerous pollutant concentrations using commercial sensors. Fig. 6
X. Dai et al. Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858

Table 1
Summary of studies about development and application of IoT platform for IAQ monitoring.
Ref. Year Pollutant Connectivity Application Cost Integration
with
data-driven
model

(Yang et al., 2014) 2014 CO, CO2 VOCs ZigBee Medical center – No
(Abraham and Li, 2014) 2014 CO2 , VOC, CO, O3 XBee module – – No
(Kim et al., 2014) 2014 VOC, NO2 , CO, O3 , SO2 , PM, CO2 Wi-Fi Classroom, livingroom, – No
church
(Saad et al., 2014) 2014 PM10, CO2 , CO, VOC, O3 , NO2 IRIS Mote – – No
(Brunelli et al., 2014) 2014 CO2 , CH4 – – No
(Ali et al., 2016) 2016 CO2 – Lab and office space $450 No
(Tapashetti et al., 2016) 2016 CO2 Wi-Fi Auditorium €153 No
(Cho, 2015) 2016 VOC, O3 , CO, NO2 , SO2 Wi-Fi Personal monitoring – No
(Yang et al., 2015) 2016 VOC, PM – – – No
(Wang et al., 2018) 2017 CO2 PM2.5 PM10 – – €266 No
(Scarpa et al., 2017) 2017 CO2 , PM Wi-Fi A historical building – No
(He et al., 2017) 2017 HCHO Xbee Wi-Fi module A closed testing – Yes
environment
(Sharma et al., 2017) 2017 CO2 , PM2.5 – Classrooms – No
(Kumar et al., 2017) 2017 PM2.5, CO2 , O3 , CO Global System for Mobile Smart building €451 No
(Jiang and Huacón, 2017) 2017 PM2.5, PM10, O3 , CO2 Thingspeak platform – – No
(Tran et al., 2017) 2017 VOC UHF range wireless – – No
communication
(Blanco-Novoa et al., 2018) 2018 Radon Wi-Fi Rural home and urban home €120 No
(Ortiz Perez et al., 2018) 2018 CO2 Wi-Fi School – No
(Zhao et al., 2018) 2018 PM2.5 CO2 Wi-Fi Dwelling – No
(Asthana and Mishra, 2018) 2018 PM2.5, O3 , NO2 , SO2 Wi-Fi (Bolt) University building – No
(Dai et al., 2018) 2018 PM2.5, CO2 Wi-Fi Home – No
(Benammar et al., 2018) 2018 SO2 , NO2 , O3 , CO2 , CO, Cl2 Wi-Fi IoT University building – No
(Karami et al., 2018) 2018 CO2 PM2.5 VOCs ZigBee Computer laboratory – No
(Chanthakit and Rattanapoka, 2018 CO, O3 , PM2.5 MQTT protocol – $62 No
2018)
(Lasomsri et al., 2018) 2018 TVOC, CO2 – Hospitals – No
(Parkinson et al., 2019) 2019 CO2 , CO, PM2.5, TVOC, HCHO Zigbee Pro mesh networking – – No
(Ali et al., 2019) 2019 CO2 Wi-Fi Home $178 No
(Marques et al., 2019) 2019 CO2 Wi-Fi Laboratory $41.88 No
(Sun et al., 2019) 2019 PM2.5, PM10, HCHO, TVOC, C6H6, CO2 , CO, NO2 , O3 IOTA Workshop and office – No
(Marques and Pitarma, 2019 CO, NO2 , Ethanol, Hydrogen, NH3 , Methane, Propane, Wi-Fi Laboratory $59.88 No
2019b) Isobutane
(Gillooly et al., 2019) 2019 CO, NO, NO2 , PM2.5 – Home < No
$3000
(Pham et al., 2018) 2019 CO2 VOC Visible light communication – – No
(Marques and Pitarma, 2019 VOC Wi-Fi In laboratory test – No
2019a)
(Jo et al., 2020) 2020 Dust, VOC, CO, CO2 , Wi-Fi University building – No
(Zagatti et al., 2020) 2020 CO2 , PM2.5, VOC Wi-Fi Classroom and laboratory – No
(Senthilkumar et al., 2020) 2020 PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2 , SO2 , O3 – – – No
(Kim et al., 2020) 2020 PM2.5, CO2 – Households – No
(Esfahani et al., 2020) 2020 VOCs, CO2 , PM2.5, PM 10 Wi-Fi – No
(Faiazuddin et al., 2020) 2020 CO, NO2 , H2, NH3 , CO2 Wi-Fi – – No
(Saini et al., 2020a) 2020 PM 10, PM 2.5, CO2 , VOC Wi-Fi Canteen – Yes
(López et al., 2021) 2021 CO2 – Nearly-zero energy house – No
(Wall et al., 2021) 2021 VOC Wi-Fi Kitchen and study room <£100 No
(Tagliabue et al., 2021) 2021 CO2 – Building – Yes
(Di Gilio et al., 2021) 2021 CO2 – Classroom – No
(Coulby et al., 2021) 2021 CO2 , PM, VOC Wi-Fi Office – No
(Mujan et al., 2021) 2021 CO2 , PM2.5, TVOC Wi-Fi Offices and educational €130 No
building
(Mumtaz et al., 2021) 2021 NH3 , CO, NO2 , CH4 , CO2 , PM 2.5 GSM/Wi-Fi – – Yes
(AI-Okby et al., 2021) 2021 VOC Wi-Fi Laboratory – No
(Liu et al., 2021) 2021 CO2 , PM2.5 GPRS/4G/Zigbee – $47 No
(Yin et al., 2022) 2022 PM2.5, CO2 Wi-Fi Home – No
(Marzouk and Atef, 2022) 2022 CO2 , CO, PM2.5 Wi-Fi Academic building – Yes
(Yasin et al., 2022) 2022 PM2.5, PM10, CO2 , TVOCs Wi-Fi Meeting room – No
(Zhao et al., 2022) 2022 CO2 , VOC, HCHO, PM2.5, PM10, 4G module Office No
(Kim et al., 2022a) 2022 PM1, PM2.5, PM10, CO2 Wi-Fi Living lab – No
(Geng et al., 2021) 2022 CO2 , PM2.5 4G or Wi-Fi Office, residences, hospital – No
et al.

summarizes the frequency of each parameter covered in previously devel-
oped IAQ platforms conducted by previous studies. The common pollutants
that have been considered in previous studies are CO2 , PM2.5 and TVOC.
CO2 is the most frequent pollutant in the reviewed studies due to its signif-
icance as a good indicator of ventilation and indoor air quality. Also, it can
be seen that all pollutants highlighted in the WHO global air quality
guidelines have been considered in the previous studies, indicating that
the IoT-based IAQ platform can be used to provide daily air quality moni-
toring. However, it is essential to acknowledge that only some of the pollut-
ants mentioned in the WHO IAQ guidelines have been covered in the
previous study (CO, NO2, HCHO, Radon, C6H6), and their monitoring fre-
quency is relatively low. This is because several pollutants mentioned in the

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Table 2
The strengths and weaknesses of common communication protocols.
Strengths Weaknesses
Wi-Fi 1. High data transfer speeds 1. Limited range
2. Widespread availability 2. Higher power consumption
3. Easy to set up 3. Subscription costs
4G 1. Broad coverage 1. Subscription costs
2. High-speed data transfer 2. Higher power consumption
3. Scalability
ZigBee 1. Robustness and reliability 1. Limited data transfer speeds
2. Mesh networking 2. Limited range
3. Least power consumption
Xbee 1. Mesh networking 1. Limited data transfer speeds
2. Good Configurability 2. Limited range
3. Lower power consumption
WHO IAQ guidelines are organic pollutants, which are difficult to measure
with low-cost sensors. To solve this problem, several studies used TVOC as a
surrogate indicator for monitoring indoor organic pollutants. It is worth
noting that different types of sensors are employed for monitoring different
types of pollutants. For some gas pollutants, such as TVOC, CO and O3 , the
widely used sensors are semiconductor sensors. For particles, optical sen-
sors are often used, and for CO2 , nondispersive infrared sensors are used.
Semiconductor sensors usually have a sensing layer comprised of metal
oxide material, which is placed on the alumina substrate and connected to
the sensor chips. The conductivity of the sensor increases when it is exposed
to detectable gases. This change in conductivity produces an output signal
that corresponds to the concentration of gas (Saad et al., 2014). The avail-
able commercial sensors include MQ138 for VOC (Yang et al., 2015),
MiCS-2610 (Saad et al., 2014) for O3 , and TGS5042 for CO (Kim et al.,
2014). Under laboratory conditions, semiconductor sensors can be cali-
brated using linear regression with acceptable accuracy (Abraham and Li,
2014). However, these sensors are susceptible to environmental variations
because the conductivity of semiconductors is impacted by temperature
and humidity (Schieweck et al., 2018). Another drawback of semiconduc-
tor sensors is that they are usually sensitive to multiple substances, which
means that the measurement results are likely to be impacted by the exis-
tence of other sensitive substances (Abraham and Li, 2014). To overcome
this drawback, the combination of several semiconductor sensors is a
good way to improve the reliability of pollutant identification (Leidinger
et al., 2014). In recent years, deep learning has been applied to mitigate
the impact of interfering pollutants on targeted pollutants. For example,
Robin et al. (2021) developed a 10-layer convolution network to calibrate
a formaldehyde sensor and achieved an uncertainty of approximately
11 ppb in complex mixtures.
Optical sensors are usually used for PM measurements. The available
PM sensors include PPD42NJ from Shinyei Technology (Chanthakit and
Rattanapoka, 2018) and HPMA115S0 from Honeywell (Tiele et al.,
2018). Most PM sensors are based on the light scattering principle. Specif-
ically, particles are carried in the airflow across an air-channel that is
Fig. 4. Summary of the function of IoT-based IAQ platform developed in each year.
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Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858
illuminated by visible or infrared light. The intensity of the scattered light
from the particle is monitored by a photodetector in a selected direction.
Generally, high-quality PM sensors have good linearity in controlled labo-
ratory settings (Demanega et al., 2021). However, their performance may
struggle with challenges under natural conditions (Morawska et al.,
2018). Despite these challenges, PM sensors are able to achieve acceptable
accuracy through calibration due to their good linearity. For occupant
space PM monitoring, (Singer and Delp, 2018) calibrated seven consumer
monitors using common indoor PM sources. Four of seven sensors exhibited
time correlation and were within a factor of 2 of the estimated mass concen-
trations for most sources. Similarly, Liu et al. (2018) also conducted a cali-
bration for the PM sensor used in their project. The PM sensors can achieve
acceptable accuracy for daily monitoring after calibration with laboratory
PM equipment. Based on these observations, it is recommended that the
pre-test of calibration should be conducted before utilizing PM sensors for
daily monitoring. However, it is interesting to note that some studies did
not conduct any sensor/monitor testing and assumed the sensor perfor-
mance based on the manufacturer-provided information.
Table 3 summarizes the accuracy and response time of the widely-used
sensors for PM2.5 and CO2 , respectively. For PM2.5, the nominal accuracy
is 15μg=m3 at the standard condition, indicating the necessity of
calibration before use in monitoring. For CO2 , it's important to note that
the accuracy of 50 ppm is also specified under standard conditions. As for
other semiconductor sensors, manufacturers often do not directly provide
accuracy values but instead offer sensitivity characteristics to assist users
in calibration efforts. This highlights the importance of calibration tailored
to specific working conditions. Furthermore, some studies developed some
data-driven methods to enhance sensor accuracy through longer-term cali-
bration during monitoring. These methods usually use measurement data
from sensors to calibrate targeted measurements. Loy-Benitez et al.
(2020) developed a holistic online framework using a sparse autoencoder
(AE) architecture for sensor self-validation, which is able to detect sensor
faults during the monitoring period. By applying the framework for the
IAQ sensors installed in a subway station, the framework successfully de-
tected 44 %–100 % of the bias faults in IAQ sensors during monitoring.
Thus, data-driven technology is a promising method for improving sensor
reliability. Also, for long-term monitoring, sensors may experience varying
environmental conditions, which can significantly impact their accuracy.
To make the sensors robust to different temperatures, Wei et al. (2020) de-
veloped a principle-based method named Temperature Look-Up (TLU)
model. The TLU model divides the possible temperature range into several
intervals. For each temperature interval, the Theil–Sen estimator was ap-
plied to mitigate the uncertainty of sensor response. Regression analysis
was then conducted to explore the relationship between the sensor's raw
voltage responses and reference data. By conducting the regression analysis
for all temperature intervals, the impact of temperature on measurement re-
sults can be substantially eliminated. The results show that the TLU model
successfully maintained the performance of NO2 sensors over 4 months.
Similarly, Sayahi et al. (2020) compared the performance of MLR, LASSO
and ANN for long-term calibration. The results showed that the ANN had
the best performance in calibrating the O3 sensor for five months, indicat-
ing the reliability of commercial sensors in air quality monitoring. Based
on the above observations, it is recommended to replace or re-calibrate
the commercial sensors every 4–6 months (Saini et al., 2021a).
3.3. Long-term IAQ monitoring with IoT platform
In recent years, the IoT-based IAQ platform has been applied in daily
IAQ monitoring for different buildings (Lasomsri et al., 2018; Zagatti
et al., 2020). Fig. 7 summarizes recent studies that installed the IoT-based
IAQ platform for real-time monitoring in buildings for durations exceeding
1 month. These studies feature long-term monitoring or large sample sizes.
The IoT-based IAQ platform has been applied in offices, residential build-
ings, hospitals, etc. One strength of the IAQ platform is that the sensor is
small and easy to install. Moreover, no noise is generated from the sensors
during monitoring. In contrast, scientific instruments tend to generate more
X. Dai et al.
Fig. 5. Boxplot for the costs of developing an IoT-based IAQ monitoring unit in the reviewed publications.
noise than low-cost sensors and their higher costs often limit the number of
measurement points. Due to the strength of commercial IAQ sensors, they
can be installed indoors without causing any discomfort to occupants.
Moreover, the low cost of IAQ sensors enables the installation of a larger
number of sensors, facilitating extensive data collection and long-term
monitoring. For instance, Dai et al. (2018) installed IAQ sensors in 117
homes across five climate zones in China and monitored PM2.5 and CO2
for more than one year. The sampled homes covered four common ventila-
tion modes in China. Due to long-term and wide-coverage monitoring, the
researchers were able to compare IAQ in different seasons and ventilation
modes. By taking advantage of this strength, they provided a good overview
of the IAQ for Chinese urban homes. With the same IAQ platform, Yin et al.
(2022) further compared the PM2.5 and CO2 concentrations under differ-
ent ventilation modes for homes in Xi'an. Based on the monitoring results,
they provided suggestions for operating mechanical ventilation systems to
reduce indoor PM2.5 and CO2 concentrations. Similarly, Zhao et al.
(2018) compared the IAQ for homes with different ventilation modes in
Tianjin and analyzed the performance of PM2.5 purification devices
under real operating conditions. They concluded that the mechanical venti-
lation system is able to decrease the occurrence of high particle pollution
Fig. 6. Frequency of pollutants measured by different IoT-based IAQ platforms
developed in previous studies (note: CO, NO2 are also included in WHO IAQ
guidelines).
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Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858
levels indoors, but has limited ability to increase the occurrence of healthy
pollution levels (PM2.5 < 35 μg/m3). Based on the long-term monitoring
data for indoor CO2 concentration, López et al. (2021) also compared the
constancy of different IAQ metrics.
4. Data mining based on big data from IoT platforms
4.1. IAQ prediction
By taking advantage of big data from the IoT platform, IAQ can be well
predicted by machine learning (ML) models. Table 4 summarizes the stud-
ies on IAQ prediction, including input/model selection, targeted pollutants
and prediction performance. Fig. 8 shows the Sankey diagram to present
the relationship between different inputs, models and outputs. It can be
seen that the frequent inputs for IAQ prediction include indoor/outdoor
air quality, indoor thermal environment parameters and meteorological pa-
rameters. Regarding the prediction model, it can be classified into time-
series models and none-time-series models. None-time-series models are
usually used to investigate the relationship between IAQ metrics and
other influencing factors (Target I). Random forest and ANN are the fre-
quently used none-time-series model for such predictions. Time-series
models are usually used to forecast future IAQ metrics based on the current
state (Target II). LSTM and RNN are the frequently used time series model
for this purpose. From Fig. 8, it can be also seen that the input selection is
different across models. For random forest and ANN, they usually take a
wider range of inputs to predict current IAQ. For LSTM and RNN, they usu-
ally take historical indoor/outdoor environmental data to forecast future
IAQ. Fortunately, these parameters are usually available for the recently de-
veloped IoT-based IAQ platform. This indicates that the IoT-based IAQ plat-
form is able to conduct IAQ prediction if the outdoor environmental data
are integrated into the system. Currently, some IoT-based IAQ platforms
have realized IAQ prediction such as Rastogi et al. (2020). However, it
should be noted that only a small portion of studies have considered the op-
eration parameters of ventilation systems, such as window status and ven-
tilation rate, as inputs for IAQ prediction. With this limitation, IAQ
prediction models are challenging to integrate into model predictive con-
trol since changes in ventilation system status significantly impact IAQ. In
future work, it will be better to consider the operation parameters of venti-
lation systems as inputs for IAQ prediction.
Fig. S2 shows the prediction performance of previous studies. On aver-
age, the RMSE was 7 μg=m3 for the prediction of PM2.5 and was 45 ppm
for the prediction of CO2 . It can be also seen that there is a significant var-
iance in predicting PM2.5 concentration. The large variance can be attrib-
uted to many factors, such as the difference in inputs/model selection and
specific prediction tasks. In general, the objectives of these studies can be
classified into two types: I) investigating the relationship between IAQ met-
rics and other influencing factors, and II) forecasting future IAQ metrics
Table 3
Specifications of the typical pollutant sensors.
Model Pollutant Accuracy Response time
HPMA115S0 PM2.5 ±15 μg/m3 <6 s
GC-0010 CO2 ±50 ppm ± 3 % reading 30s–180 s
X. Dai et al. Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858

IAQ metrics 2017 2018 2019 2020

Sample size
Ref. Duraon PM2.5 CO2 PM10 HCHO TVOC C6H6 CO2 CO NO2 O3 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Dai et al. (2018) 1 year √ √ 117 homes
Zhao et al. (2018) 1 year √ √ 6 homes
Sun et al. (2019) 1 month √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 1 workshop and 1 office
Yin et al. (2022) 1 year √ √ 10 homes
Zaga et al. (2020) 1 month √ √ √ 2 secondary schools
María et al. (2021) 15 month √ 3 hourses
Lasomsri et al. (2018) 12 month √ √ 1 Hosipital
Tagliabue et al. (2021) 2 month √ 1 Building

Fig. 7. The duration of a long-term IAQ monitoring project based on an IoT-based IAQ platform.

based on the current state. Generally speaking, the prediction accuracy for
forecasting is lower compared to that of investigating the relationship be-
tween variables.
For the studies investigating the relationships between the IAQ metrics
and other influencing factors, the available models include multi-linear re-
gression (MLR), random forest, ANN et al. Xu et al. (2020) used random for-
est to estimate indoor PM2.5 concentrations for 66 apartments in China.
The random forest model achieved an RMSE of approximately 20 μg=m3
in 10-fold cross-validation, which significantly outperformed the baseline
MLR model. By using the random forest model, Li et al. (2021) successfully
estimated indoor PM2.5 concentration with an NRMSE of 15 % in ten-fold
cross-validation. Elbayoumi et al. (2015) compared the performance of
MLR and ANN in estimating indoor PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 for naturally ven-
tilated schools. The RMSE of the ANN model was 7.41 % which was
19.35 % lower than that of the MLR model. Similar comparisons were
also conducted in Nam et al. (2020) and Kim et al. (2010), yielding consis-
tent results where ANN outperformed MLR in IAQ estimation. Based on
these observations, it can be seen that both random forest and ANN are
able to produce satisfactory prediction accuracy in IAQ estimation.
ML models are also applicable to forecast future IAQ metrics (Taheri
and Razban, 2021; Kallio et al., 2021). However, traditional ML models
are not able to consider time-series characteristics. Since changes in indoor
pollutants are highly time-related, prediction performance can be enhanced
if models could take advantage of the time series characteristics of histori-
cal data. To achieve this, RNNs have been used in many studies since
their recurrent layer is able to consider information from previous time
steps. With this strength, RNNs have shown outstanding performance in
IAQ forecasting. Loy-Benitez et al. (2019) developed different RNN struc-
tures to predict indoor PM2.5 concentrations in an underground facility.
The RNN model showed good performance in multiple sequence

Table 4
Summary of studies using data-driven models to predict IAQ.
Ref. Pollutant Model Model input RMSE

(Moon et al., 2019) PM2.5, PM10 LSTM Indoor PM2.5, indoor PM10 PM2.5: 5.09,
PM10: 7.45
(Segala et al., 2021) CO2 Nerual network Indoor Temperature, Indoor Humidity, Indoor CO2 CO2 : 15
(convolution)
(Li et al., 2021) PM2.5 Random forest Outdoor PM2.5, house id, outdoor T, outdoor RH, area, Aircon, Window, Season, stove usage –
(Nam et al., 2020) PM10 MLR, ANN, GRU Outdoor PM10, number of passengers
(Kim et al., 2009) PM2.5, PM10 RNN Indoor NO, NO2 , NOX , CO, CO2 , Temperature, humidity, and PM10 and PM2.5 PM2.5: 17.8,
PM10: 28.57
(Elbayoumi et al., PM2.5, ANN Outdoor PM2.5, outdoor PM2.5–10, indoor CO2 , indoor RH, outdoor T, wind speed, ventilation rate, PM2.5: 1.3,
2015) PM2.5–10 indoor CO,
PM2.5–10:
1.3
(Amuthadevi et al., CO, SO2 , NOx , LSTM wind speed and direction, outdoor temperature, outdoor humidity, and outdoor pressure CO: 0.12,
2021) O3
SO2 : 0.12,
NOx : 0.11,
O3 : 0.14
(Xu et al., 2020) PM2.5 Random forest Outdoor PM2.5, ventilation status, meteorological parameters, season, time of day, building 20.4
regression characteristics, number of occupants (pets)
(Yuchi et al., 2019) PM2.5 Random forest Season, outdoor PM2.5 concentration, the number of air cleaners, gers density 0.31
regression
(Saini et al., 2021b) PM10 PSO + GA Indoor PM2.5, Indoor CO2 , Indoor VOC, Indoor temperature, and Indoor humidity 1.2
(Saini et al., 2020b) PM10 Random forest Indoor CO2 , Indoor VOC, indoor temperature, and indoor humidity 0.594
(Taheri and Razban, CO2 ANN Outdoor temperature, RH, dew point 54.78
2021)
(Hatta and Han, 2021) PM2.5, PM10 ANN Wind speed, number of occupants, door opening frequency, outdoor PM2.5 or PM10 concentrations, PM2.5: 0.23,
HRV, AP operation
PM10: 1.92
(Lagesse et al., 2020) PM2.5 LSTM Hourly outdoor PM2.5, outdoor/indoor relative humidity (RH), outdoor/indoor air temperature (T), 1.73
and wind speed, damper position, occupancy
(Patra, 2019) PM2.5 SVM Indoor PM2.5 0.44
(Tariq et al., 2021) PM2.5 ResNet Indoor PM10,Indoor PM2.5, Indoor CO2 , Indoor temperature, and Indoor humidity 11.88
(Kallio et al., 2021) CO2 Decision tree Indoor CO2 , Indoor PIR,Indoor temperature, and Indoor humidity –
(Martnez-Comesaña CO2 ANN weather data; indoor temperature, indoor relative humidity and indoor CO2 ; time variables; position 60
et al., 2021) x,y,z
(Jin et al., 2021) CO2 LSTM Indoor air temperature, Indoor humidity, and Indoor CO2 concentrations 49.8
(Khazaei et al., 2019) CO2 ANN Indoor temperature and Indoor relative humidity –
(Kim et al., 2022b) CO2 , PM2.5, ANN Indoor CO2 , Indoor PM2.5, and Indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) –
and VOCs

8
X. Dai et al.
Fig. 8. Sankey diagram to show the relationship between different inputs, models and outputs.
predictions and successfully captured patterns on time-series data to make
good predictions. Dai et al., (2021) developed an RNN model to predict the
indoor PM2.5 concentration for the subsequent half hour. By using RNN to
analyze the time series characteristics of the input data, the proposed model
predicted the future trend of indoor PM2.5 concentrations. Lagesse et al.
(2020) compared the performance of several models, including multiple
linear regression (MLR), partial least squares regression (PLS), distributed
lag model (DLM), least absolute shrinkage selector operator (LASSO), sim-
ple artificial neural networks (ANN), and long-short term memory (LSTM),
in predicting indoor PM2.5 concentrations. The results showed that LSTM
outperformed the other models by effectively learning the temporal pat-
terns of PM2.5. Therefore, it is recommended to use the RNN/LSTM
model for forecasting IAQ metrics due to its ability to consider time-series
characteristics.
4.2. Knowledge extraction
Since the transfer of pollutants between indoors and outdoors is im-
pacted by many factors, the IAQ process exhibits a certain level of
stochasticity. By taking advantage of big data from IoT platforms, several
studies have investigated the overall characteristics of IAQ from different
aspects.
The most straightforward data mining technology is regression anal-
ysis, which is able to estimate trends between a dependent variable and
one or more influencing factors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Regression_analysis, 2021). By summarizing the indoor CO2 monitoring
data from over 100 Chinese homes for more than one year, Dai et al.
(2018) investigated the relationship between indoor CO2 concentration
and outdoor temperature. It was found that the change trends of indoor CO2
concentrations are different between homes in northern and southern China.
For homes in northern China, the indoor CO2 concentration first increased
slightly as the outdoor temperature increased, reaching its peak when the out-
door temperature was approximately 10 °C. Subsequently, the indoor CO2
concentration decreased as the outdoor temperature increased. For homes
in southern China, the indoor CO2 concentration first decreased with
9
Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858
increasing outdoor temperature. When the temperature exceeded approxi-
mately 22 °C, the indoor CO2 concentration changed to increase as the out-
door temperature increased.
Xia et al. (2021) developed an algorithm to estimate indoor PM2.5 from
outdoor and indoor sources using time-resolved indoor/outdoor PM2.5
concentrations. By applying the algorithm to analyze a large amount of
data from the IAQ platform, the results provided reliable information to
quantify the transfer process of PM2.5 between indoors and outdoors.
Based on this, the contributions of indoor-emitted and outdoor-origin
PM2.5 to indoor PM2.5 concentrations are identified. By comparing the re-
sults in different groups, their study also revealed the difference in the
PM2.5 transfer process among apartments in different cities and seasons.
Plausible explanations for the seasonal and spatial variations were also pro-
vided, further validating the proposed methodology used in the IoT-based
dataset.
Li et al. (2021) used a random forest model to estimate the indoor
PM2.5 concentration using the input of building characteristics and the out-
door environment. By analyzing the model's variable importance, it was
found that the house type, usage of air conditioner and window status are
important factors for estimating indoor PM2.5 concentrations.
5. Prompting IAQ with the IoT platform
5.1. Advanced technology for ventilation control
Recently, many studies have developed several control strategies for
ventilation systems based on data-driven models. These strategies have
shown great potential in enhancing indoor air quality while reducing en-
ergy consumption. Since these strategies usually rely on big data for train-
ing, integrating them with IoT platforms would be a good way to
maximize their performance. In this section, we summarize these strategies
and present their performances. The improvements in energy performance
and IAQ are summarized in Table 5. Generally speaking, energy consump-
tion can be reduced by implementing these advanced control strategies for
ventilation systems. However, there is obvious tension between optimizing
X. Dai et al.
Table 5
The energy reduction and IAQ improvement of advanced technology for ventilation control.
Ref. Energy IAQ Methodology
reduction improvement
(Taheri and Razban, 2021) 51.40 % – Simulation
(Vadamalraj et al., 2020) 21 % – Real application
(Valladares et al., 2019) 5% 10 % Real application
(Yang et al., 2021) 8% – Simulation
(Heo et al., 2019) 14.40 % – Simulation
(An et al., 2021) – 9.11 % Simulation
(An et al., 2022) 2.4 %–43.7 % 3.2 %–46.7 % Laboratory chambers test
ventilation for energy efficiency and ensuring better air quality. For the
strategy with obvious IAQ improvement, the energy reduction percentage
is generally lower than that without significant IAQ improvement. For ex-
ample, Vadamalraj et al. (2020) optimized the demand control ventilation
system by integrating dynamic indoor CO2 prediction information. This in-
tegration led to a 20 % reduction in energy consumption in an office build-
ing. With such notable improvement in energy efficiency, it did not
simultaneously improve IAQ. In comparison, Valladares et al. (2019)
achieved a significant IAQ improvement (10 %) in a classroom and a labo-
ratory using reinforcement learning. However, the improvement in energy
efficiency was 5 %, which is lower than the energy efficiency reported in
Vadamalraj et al. (2020). Therefore, when implementing advanced strate-
gies to control ventilation systems, it is important to make a balance be-
tween energy efficiency and improved air quality according to the
specific situations of each built environment.
One approach to integrating the IoT platform with the ventilation control
strategy is by utilizing prediction information to prompt demand-controlled
ventilation. With the prediction information, the demand control ventilation
is promising to provide energy savings and better IAQ. Taheri and Razban
(2021) integrated a dynamic indoor CO2 prediction model into a demand
control ventilation system, enabling adaptive IAQ control that accounts for
dynamic occupancy information. With this strength, the proposed demand
control ventilation (DCV) strategy reduced energy consumption by 51.4 %
while still meeting ASHRAE's IAQ standard. Vadamalraj et al. (2020) com-
bined an IoT platform with a deep learning model, integrating them into a
DCV system. With the predictive information provided by the deep learning
model, an energy savings of approximately 20 % was achieved while main-
taining satisfactory IAQ levels. These results demonstrate the potential of
data-driven models, trained using data from the IoT platform, to provide suf-
ficient predictive information that can prompt the performance of DCV sys-
tem on both the energy and IAQ sides.
Recently, the reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm has gained much
attention in the field of HVAC control, primarily due to its outstanding per-
formance in optimization control processes (Wang and Hong, 2020). The
common RL algorithms include Q-learning, deep Q-learning, policy gradi-
ent, and actor-critic. Among these, deep Q-learning stands out as one of
the most widely used algorithms, which uses neural networks as actors to
learn the optimal actions under different states. Valladares et al. (2019)
used a deep Q-learning algorithm to control an HVAC system by using in-
door/outdoor temperature, indoor CO2 concentration and PMV level as
input variables. Compared to the baseline control strategy, their algorithm
achieved better PMV levels, lower indoor CO2 level and demonstrated 5 %
lower energy consumption for a laboratory room and a classroom. Similar
work was also conducted by Yang et al. (2021). The results showed that
the RL algorithm is able to control the system to ensure ventilation rate
for diluting indoor CO2 while maintaining satisfactory thermal comfort,
all while reducing energy consumption or costs.
In addition to indoor CO2 , the RL algorithm can also be used to control
the ventilation system to remove indoor particles. Heo et al. (2019) devel-
oped an RL algorithm to control the frequency of the supply fan in a subway
station's ventilation system. The simulation results showed that the devel-
oped RL-based control strategy is able to reduce energy consumption by
14.4 % and improve indoor PM10 concentrations from unhealthy levels
to acceptable levels. Compared to the rule-based control strategy, the RL
Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858
Inputs
Outdoor T/RH/ dew points and indoor CO2
Indoor PM, CO2 , TVOC, RH, T
Indoor/outdoor T, indoor levels of CO2 and PMV
Indoor/outdoor T, indoor CO2 , preferred temperature, solar radiation, occupant number, time
Indoor/outdoor PM10, passenger number, subway schedule, inverter frequency
Indoor/outdoor PM2.5 concentrations
Indoor/outdoor PM2.5 concentrations
algorithm showed better performance due to its ability to capture the dy-
namic properties of influencing factors and their impact on indoor PM10
concentrations. Similarly, An et al. (2021) developed an RL approach to re-
duce indoor PM2.5 concentrations by controlling the window status for res-
idential buildings in China. For one year, the proposed RL strategy reduced
the average indoor PM2.5 concentration by 12.8 %. To further avoid a long
time period for collecting big data for RL training, An et al. (2022) used a
physical model to create a virtual environment for data generation and
training purposes. They tested the performance of the trained network for
IAQ control in laboratory chambers and observed energy reduction from
2.4 % - 43.7 % and IAQ improvement between 3.2 % and 46.7 % across
all test cases, showing good performance of this approach.
As shown in Table 5, the general IoT-based IAQ platforms are able to
provide some of the inputs for the control algorithms, such as indoor/out-
door PM concentration, temperature and CO2 concentration. By integrating
the information from both the IoT-based IAQ platform and the building
management system (BMS), most of the information required for advanced
control technology becomes available. Consequently, engineers are able to
integrate these control strategies into the IoT-based IAQ platform to provide
better control strategies for ventilation systems.
5.2. Enhanced IAQ distribution
The IAQ platforms designed for large indoor spaces with multiple zones
usually have multiple sensors installed indoors to provide a general assess-
ment of the indoor air quality (IAQ) distribution. However, relying solely
on this rough distribution may not always provide adequate information
in some conditions. To address this, several studies have developed algo-
rithms that aim to combine monitoring data at different indoor locations
and provide more useful information about IAQ conditions.
One potential application to take advantage of discrete monitoring data is
the identification of indoor pollutant sources, which is important for indoor
environment security. Inverse modeling is widely used to realize accurate
identification of indoor pollutant sources (Liu and Zhai, 2007), such as inverse
matrix models and Bayesian probability models (Zhang et al., 2015), im-
proved tomographic imaging algorithms (Li et al., 2020), Markov chains com-
bined with regularisation and Bayesian inference models (Liu et al., 2019).
Recently, Li et al. (2022) compared the performance of several deconvolution
inverse algorithms for indoor pollutant source detection. The study found that
the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique, in combination with
computer-assisted tomography, achieved the best performance in terms of
both the accuracy and stability of source strength identification.
Based on the CFD simulation results, Ren and Cao (2019) developed an
algorithm named LLVM-ANN, which aims to predict the distribution of in-
door CO2 concentrations. They confirmed that the trained ANN model is
able to rapidly and efficiently predict the low-dimensional indoor concen-
tration field, even with limited input monitoring data from several sensors.
The LLVM-ANN was further integrated into a control framework to confirm
the optimal ventilation rate for HVAC control (Zhu et al., 2021). This inte-
gration reduced the total HVAC energy consumption by 35 % compared to
the baseline control strategy. Based on these studies, it is reasonable to infer
that the IoT sensor network promises to improve the IAQ and reduce energy
consumption by carefully designing sensor placement and employing suit-
able algorithms to provide the distribution of indoor pollutants.
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X. Dai et al.
5.3. Computer vision for occupant-centric control
Occupant-centric control is a promising control strategy for ventilation
systems to provide better IAQ while reducing the cooling energy. The key
factor contributing to the success of occupant-centric control lies in
obtaining accurate real-time indoor occupancy information. Previously,
many studies developed different data-driven algorithms for occupancy de-
tection and estimation (Dai et al., 2020). However, the transferability of
these algorithms is limited, which may lead to difficulty when imple-
menting them in different buildings. A recent development in computer vi-
sion technology has emerged as a promising avenue for indoor occupancy
detection and estimation, offering a promising solution for acquiring occu-
pant information to support occupant-centric control.
The convolutional neural network is the most widely used model for object
detection in the field of computer vision. Notable models include YOLOv3
(Redmon and Farhadi, 2018) and Faster RCNN (Ren et al., 2015). They
showed outstanding performance in the detection of cars, people, animals,
etc. Regarding indoor occupant counts, the principle is same as the common
task for object detection tasks, which aims to detect and count individuals in
real indoor environments. Yang et al. (2022) developed a CNN-ML-based
framework for crowd counting, which used images captured by surveillance
cameras as inputs. This framework achieved recognition accuracy of
95.67 % for different crowd densities. With such high-accuracy models for oc-
cupant counting, occupant-centric control is much more reliable and scalable.
6. Discussion and future work
6.1. Digital twin for IAQ management
This review investigates recent studies on the development and applica-
tion of IoT-based IAQ platforms for IAQ management. Based on the current
studies, it can be seen that the technology for IoT-based IAQ platforms is
well-developed, and engineers are able to develop their own IoT platforms
for IAQ management. To ensure reliable IAQ information, IAQ sensors
should be carefully calibrated prior to their implementation for monitoring.
For common IAQ indicators, such as PM2.5 and CO2 , it is reasonable to con-
clude that commercial sensors are able to provide reliable monitoring re-
sults when adequately calibrated. However, it is interesting to note that
some studies did not present their calibration work and instead directly pre-
sented the IAQ monitoring results from their platforms (Morawska et al.,
2018).
In recent years, the concept of the digital twin has gained much atten-
tion in both industry and academia. It could be worth introducing the dig-
ital twin for better IAQ management. A digital twin typically refers to a
virtual representation of a physical system (Jones et al., 2020). In the
field of IAQ management, the indoor environment for buildings is a physi-
cal system. To establish a virtual twin of the physical system, engineers can
take advantage of the IoT-based IAQ platform for real-time monitoring and
the related data-driven models for forecasting. Another important factor of
the digital twin is virtual-to-physical twinning, which means that the phys-
ical system should be able to embody the virtual state. In the IAQ manage-
ment field, the ventilation system should be controllable according to the
signals from the virtual twin. Currently, only a few studies have com-
menced the development of a digital twin for IAQ management
(Govindasamy et al., 2021). Studies regarding the long-term evaluation of
IAQ improvement with digital twin systems are not sufficient. To develop
a digital twin for IAQ management, several scientific challenges should be
further addressed, such as enhancing model fidelity for reducing uncer-
tainties and implementing active learning for reliable model evolution.
The decision process of the virtual twin is the most important factor for
IAQ management. In terms of promoting control performance, the main
pathway can be classified into two types: 1) to provide predictive informa-
tion to improve DCV control and 2) to train a reinforcement learning model
to acquire optimal control strategies. Previous studies have shown that both
pathways are able to provide substantial improvement in control perfor-
mance. However, to the best of our knowledge, few studies have conducted
11
Science of the Total Environment 895 (2023) 164858
a comparative analysis between these two pathways. In future studies, this
type of comparison is necessary to determine the superior pathway.
6.2. Explainable and transferable AI
The IoT platform is able to provide a large amount of data, facilitating
the training for data-driven models. Previous research confirms the strong
performance of data-driven models in both IAQ prediction and advanced
control. However, these data-driven models are black-box models and
lack interpretability. To solve this issue, explainable artificial intelligence
has been proposed to 1) develop more explainable models while maintain-
ing high performance, and 2) enable humans to understand and appropri-
ately trust AI model (Arrieta et al., 2020). The available explainable AI
technologies include attention mechanisms (Fukui et al., 2019) and surro-
gate models (Adadi and Berrada, 2018) etc. Regrettably, few studies have
applied these explainable AI technologies for IAQ prediction and manage-
ment. Furthermore, many studies train and test data-driven models based
on datasets from a particular built environment, rendering the models
less transferable to other buildings. To solve this, more research should be
conducted to improve the transferability of the data-driven model. Based
on these observations, future studies should focus on the interpretability
and transferability of the data-driven models for IAQ prediction and man-
agement. By doing so, the digital twin approach for IAQ management can
attain greater reliability and scalability.
6.3. Occupant-in-the-loop for IAQ management
The emission of CO2 and other chemicals from occupants substantially in-
creases during periods of stressed activities (cognitive tasks). This indicates
the potential for considering occupants in the loop when determining build-
ing ventilation rates (Gall et al., 2020). One way is to include the occupant
feedback/preference about IAQ through communication devices, enabling
them to express their need for more fresh air to the central server. This meth-
odology has recently been used in indoor thermal environment management
(Jayathissa et al., 2019). Also, some studies have developed an “electronic
nose” to evaluate perceived air quality for occupants (Moufid et al., 2021;
Karakaya et al., 2020). Another way is to monitor some physiological param-
eters through IoT sensors. For example, some smartwatches are able to mon-
itor occupant heart rate, oxyhemoglobin saturation, etc. However, the
effectiveness of including these parameters for IAQ management requires fur-
ther investigation. More studies should be conducted to investigate how to
use these parameters as inputs for informing ventilation strategy decisions.
Currently, most IoT-based IAQ platforms only include IAQ indicators for
monitoring, operating as independent entities without direct influence on
building operations. The next generation of IoT-based IAQ platforms should
include occupant-in-the-loop platforms. To realize this, it is important to inte-
grate an IoT-based IAQ platform with traditional BMS as a unifying entity.
This integration would allow the information collected by the IAQ platform
to directly influence/guide the operation of the BMS. Recently, a few studies
have reported prototypes exploring this concept, where the terminal air con-
ditioner or ventilator units are integrated with IAQ sensors (Vadamalraj et al.,
2020; Valladares et al., 2019). In these prototypes, the control of terminal de-
vices is determined according to the information collected by the terminal
sensors, resulting in improved energy efficiency and IAQ performance. How-
ever, the integration of these two systems is still in its early stage, and more
work should be done to advance these prototypes for actual HVAC systems.
Additionally, it should be noted that IoT platforms have some sensors that
provide the same information as existing BMS, such as temperature and
CO2 sensors. Therefore, developers should avoid duplicating sensors within
a single space during the design stage to reduce development costs.
7. Conclusion
This study provides a comprehensive review of various studies that
have developed IoT-based platforms for Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and uti-
lized data-driven models for effective IAQ management. The IoT-based
X. Dai et al.
IAQ platform has demonstrated its potential to enhance IAQ management
for the built environment, although some key challenges still need to be ad-
dressed. The main conclusions of this review are as follows:
• The current technology for IoT and commercial IAQ sensors has under-
gone significant development, enabling engineers to develop their own
IoT-based IAQ platforms. The IoT-based IAQ platforms are able to provide
reliable monitoring results once the sensors are well calibrated.
• Data-driven algorithms are able to prompt IAQ management by providing
valuable information for MPC or enabling direct control strategies
through RL. The key inputs for these algorithms can be provided by
IoT-based IAQ platforms, indicating its potential to be integrated into
the platform to enhance IAQ management. However, only 9.1 % of
existing platforms have integrated data-driven models for IAQ manage-
ment. Thus, the application of data-driven models for IAQ management
is still in the research and development stage.
• Future work should focus on integrating data-driven models and develop-
ing digital twins for intelligent and efficient IAQ management. To realize
this, it is recommended to apply explainable AI techniques to increase the
interpretability of the data-driven model. Additionally, to increase the
scalability of data-driven models, it is necessary to explore the implemen-
tation of transfer learning, enabling models trained on a large number of
buildings to be generalized and applied to specific buildings. To achieve
this, reliable and open-sourced virtual testbeds are needed to facilitate
model training and evaluation.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Xilei Dai: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Investigation, Formal
analysis. Wenzhe Shang: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – original
draft. Junjie Liu: Supervision, Project administration. Min Xue: Investiga-
tion, Formal analysis. Congcong Wang: Investigation, Formal analysis.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial inter-
ests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the
work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Develop-
ment Program of China through Grant No. 2022YFC3702803 and the Na-
tional Key Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China, on
Green Buildings and Building Industrialization through Grant No.
2016YFC0700501.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164858.
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