Reliable, maintenance-free, and fanless: The World’s smallest particulate matter sensor

Reliable, maintenance-free, and fanless: The World’s smallest particulate matter sensor! 450 times smaller than any comparable device on the market, to be precise, so it’s no wonder that Bosch’s BMV080 won ‘Best in Show’ in Embedded Computing Design’s Sensors category. And in this final ipXchange interview from Embedded World 2023, why not go out with a bang!

In another amazing demo – that conveniently ends with us getting a box of popcorn – Mark shows us Bosch’s latest PM2.5 particulate matter sensor, which measures the concentration of atmospheric particulates with diameters down to 0.5 µm. In the demo, these are the result of popcorn cooking in the microwave.

Because of the device’s vastly smaller size when compared to standard fan-based alternatives, this innovation allows accurate air quality and pollution monitoring in previously unviable applications like smart thermostats, smart air purifiers, wearables, and other ultra-compact IoT devices.

The key innovation that allows for the 4.2 x 3.5 x 3 mm size of this sensor is an ultra-compact Class 1 laser setup with integrated photodiodes. This enables free-space measurements in front of the device, as opposed to using a fan to draw air into a chamber for sample measurement using similar principles. The fanless design of the BMV080 also greatly reduces the need for routine maintenance due to dust build-up within the sensor, making it a perfect fit for set-and-forget IoT sensor hubs.