This project documents the design, implementation, and validation of a mesh-based inlet enclosure for particulate matter (PM) sensors used in a portable weather station.
The goal is to protect the sensor from:
- Direct rainfall
- Insects and debris
- Harsh environmental exposure
while ensuring that the measurement performance is not affected.
During field deployment, the PM sensors experienced failures due to:
- Water ingress during rain events
- Contamination from environmental particles and insects
These issues resulted in sensor degradation and unreliable readings.
A mesh-based inlet enclosure was designed to:
- Prevent direct rain entry
- Block insects and large particles
- Maintain sufficient airflow for accurate PM measurements
- Next PM Tera Sensor (x2)
- Fidas 200
- Outdoor deployment under real environmental conditions
To evaluate whether the mesh enclosure affects sensor performance.
A 24-hour comparative experiment was conducted:
| Sensor | Configuration |
|---|---|
| Sensor A | Without mesh enclosure |
| Sensor B | With mesh enclosure |
Both sensors were:
- Operated simultaneously
- Exposed to identical environmental conditions
- Compared against Fidas 200 reference data
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ Weather Station │
│ │
│ ┌───────────────┐ │
│ │ Sensor A │ │
│ │ (No Mesh) │ │
│ └───────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌───────────────┐ │
│ │ Sensor B │ │
│ │ (With Mesh) │ │
│ └───────────────┘ │
│ │
└────────────┬──────────────────┘
│
│ Data Comparison
▼
┌───────────────┐
│ Fidas 200 │
│ Reference │
└───────────────┘
- Fine mesh layer to block water droplets
- Air-permeable structure
- Durable material suitable for outdoor conditions
Airflow
↓
┌───────────────┐
│ Mesh Layer │ ← Rain / Insect Barrier
├───────────────┤
│ Air Chamber │
├───────────────┤
│ PM Sensor │
└───────────────┘
- 24 hours continuous monitoring
- PM2.5 / PM10 readings (from sensors)
- Reference readings (Fidas 200)
- Environmental conditions (rain, humidity, wind)
- Sensor with mesh enclosure remained protected from water exposure
- No physical contamination observed inside the enclosure
| Metric | Without Mesh | With Mesh |
|---|---|---|
| Data Stability | TBD | TBD |
| Correlation with Fidas 200 | TBD | TBD |
| Signal Deviation | TBD | TBD |
- Compare time-series data between both sensors
- Calculate correlation coefficient with Fidas 200
- Identify any delay or damping effect caused by mesh
The mesh enclosure is expected to:
- Improve durability and reliability of the PM sensor
- Prevent environmental damage
- Maintain acceptable measurement accuracy
Final validation depends on quantitative analysis of collected data.
- Optimize mesh density and material
- Long-term testing under extreme weather conditions
- Integration into production design
├── README.md
├── docs/
│ ├── experiment_setup.md
│ ├── results_analysis.md
│ └── diagrams/
├── data/
│ ├── raw/
│ └── processed/
├── scripts/
│ └── analysis.py
└── images/
Muhammed Nabeel
- Researcher working on IoT-based portable weather stations and sensor validation
MIT License