There is currently growing appreciation for the positive impact of urban green infrastructure in society and politics. However, reliable figures are needed to justify the design of green living spaces.

The metrological proof of a significant reduction in the concentration of fine dust in the ambient air through plants was achieved through our own preliminary work on a laboratory scale. In practice, the use of the classic upwind-downwind measurement is difficult due to frequently occurring unstable wind conditions.

A possible solution is the use of a large number of cost-effective, freely programmable, interconnected multi-sensors. The sensors are distributed around an area to be assessed. They independently determine their role in the upwind-downwind system depending on the wind direction. Using this setup, the ecosystem-performance of the plants in the area is calculated.

In order to test the project idea on a laboratory scale, a height-adjustable test facility was designed and built in-house with different planting from Helix Pflanzensysteme GmbH.

The focus was on the question of the accuracy and repeatability of the measurement results obtained with smart multi-sensors. The evaluation of the operational performance of the low-cost multi-sensors developed by HANZA Tech Solutions GmbH compared to the professional reference devices was carried out in the laboratory facility in the presence of test plants.