DOI: 10.3390/su182111176 ISSN: 2071-1050

Functional Sensor Stratification and Internal Air Quality Reconstruction in the Fisciano District

Carmine Laudato, Massimo Moffa, Umberto Casaburi, Pierluigi Lambiase, Mohamed Rammszy Careem, Angelo Tancredi Sofia, Pietro Battistoni, Monica Sebillo, Daniele Sofia

Low-cost air-quality networks require a distinction between functional context, measurement validity and reconstruction performance. This study examines twenty devices in Fisciano, Italy, assigned to pedestrian/academic, green and vehicle-access classes (11, three and six devices). Device-reported daily PM2.5 and PM10 from May to August 2026 support descriptive class analysis, class-agnostic reconstruction and a computational siting illustration. Crossed date/device mixed models, green-device exclusions, common-date fits and autoregressive residual models assess uncertainty. Three chronological held-out-device tests compare the peer median: inverse-distance weighting, nearest neighbor and fixed random forests. The peer median has the lowest observed pooled error in every period; final-period MAE is 1.43 and 1.58 µg/m3. Its paired advantage over inverse-distance weighting is not consistently distinguishable from zero. The PM2.5 green–pedestrian coefficient changes from −0.340 to −0.003 when D06 is excluded, showing substantial device influence. Reduced-network results differ between omitted-site prediction and retained-site gap filling. Geometric comparisons depend on the demand boundary and unverified candidate assumptions. These findings describe the available network without testing a reconstruction benefit from functional labels. Unknown upstream processing and missing reference co-location limit measurement interpretation.

More from our Archive