TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Schaffernicht, E. A1 - Lilienthal, A. J. T1 - Heterogeneous Sensor Networks: Challenges and Insights from an Industrial Scenario N2 - Monitoring airborne pollutants is critical for occupational health, particularly in industrial environments where workers are exposed to hazardous emissions. Traditional measurements are typically limited to single-day campaigns, resulting in extremely sparse temporal data. Low-cost sensor networks offer a way to increase spatial and temporal resolution but are limited by issues of accuracy and reliability. To address this, we present a wireless heterogeneous sensor network that integrates low-cost stationary nodes with high-quality sensors on mobile platforms, including ground and aerial robots. We deploy this system in a hot rolling mill facility and evaluate its performance under real-world conditions. Field experiments reveal dynamic pollutant patterns, such as altitude-dependent PM2.5 gradients and temperature fluctuations. By introducing synchronized “rendezvous” events between mobile and stationary nodes, we demonstrate correlation capabilities of sensors. Our spatiotemporal analysis shows that, despite limitations of mobile sensing, strategically combining heterogeneous data sources enables capturing pollutant dynamics in complex industrial settings. T2 - IEEE SENSORS 2025 CY - Vancouver, BC, Kanada DA - 19.10.2025 KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Sensor data fusion KW - Sensor system networks KW - Mobile robotics PY - 2025 SN - 979-8-3315-4467-6 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - IEEE CY - Piscataway, NJ, USA AN - OPUS4-64501 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. T1 - Heterogeneous Sensor Networks: Challenges and Insights from an Industrial Scenario N2 - Monitoring airborne pollutants is critical for occupational health, particularly in industrial environments where workers are exposed to hazardous emissions. Traditional measurements are typically limited to single-day campaigns, resulting in extremely sparse temporal data. Low-cost sensor networks offer a way to increase spatial and temporal resolution but are limited by issues of accuracy and reliability. To address this, we present a wireless heterogeneous sensor network that integrates low-cost stationary nodes with high-quality sensors on mobile platforms, including ground and aerial robots. We deploy this system in a hot rolling mill facility and evaluate its performance under real-world conditions. Field experiments reveal dynamic pollutant patterns, such as altitude-dependent PM2.5 gradients and temperature fluctuations. By introducing synchronized “rendezvous” events between mobile and stationary nodes, we demonstrate correlation capabilities of sensors. Our spatiotemporal analysis shows that, despite limitations of mobile sensing, strategically combining heterogeneous data sources enables capturing pollutant dynamics in complex industrial settings. T2 - IEEE SENSORS 2025 CY - Vancouver, BC, Kanada DA - 19.10.2025 KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Sensor data fusion KW - Sensor system networks PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64506 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Albizu, Natalia A1 - Schaffernicht, Erik A1 - Lilienthal, Achim J. T1 - GNN-DM: A Graph Neural Network Framework for Real-World Gas Distribution Mapping N2 - Gas distribution mapping (GDM) is essential for industrial safety and environmental monitoring, as it enables real-time hazard detection and air quality assessment. Traditional GDM methods, such as kernel-based techniques, struggle to reconstruct complex gas plume dynamics accurately. While deep learning has shown promise for GDM, two critical challenges hinder its practical use: the scarcity of available training data and the incompatibility of conventional architectures with irregular sensor layouts. To address these limitations, we propose GNN-DM, a graph neural network-based model for GDM that incorporates the relational structure of sensor networks to infer high-resolution maps from minimal, irregular inputs. The model is pretrained on synthetic gas dispersion data generated from measured wind data and fine-tuned on two industrial datasets collected on a ferry car deck and in a hot rolling mill. Compared with established GDM techniques, GNN-DM achieves higher accuracy on synthetic and real-world data, highlighting the potential of graph-based learning for practical gas mapping applications. KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Sensor networks KW - Transfer learning KW - Deep learning PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647363 DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2025.3617158 SN - 1530-437X VL - 25 IS - 22 SP - 42171 EP - 42179 PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) AN - OPUS4-64736 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. A1 - Johann, Sergej A1 - Kohlhoff, Harald A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. T1 - Revisiting Environmental Sensing Nodes: Lessons Learned and Way Forward N2 - Setting up sensors for the purpose of environmental monitoring should be a matter of days, but often drags over weeks or even months, preventing scientists from doing real research. Additionally, the newly developed hardware and software solutions are often reinventing existing wheels. In this short paper, we revisit the design of our environmental sensing node that has been monitoring industrial areas over a span of two years. We share our findings and lessons learned. Based on this, we outline how a new generation of sensing node(s) can look like. T2 - SMSI 2023 Conference Sensor and Measurement Science International CY - Nuremberg, Germany DA - 08.05.2023 KW - Sensing node KW - Sensor network KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Low-cost KW - LoRaWAN PY - 2023 SN - 978-3-9819376-8-8 DO - https://doi.org/10.5162/SMSI2023/C5.1 SP - 173 EP - 174 PB - AMA Service GmbH CY - Wunstorf AN - OPUS4-57454 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. T1 - Revisiting Environmental Sensing Nodes: Lessons Learned and Way Forward N2 - Setting up sensors for the purpose of environmental monitoring should be a matter of days, but often drags over weeks or even months, preventing scientists from doing real research. Additionally, the newly developed hardware and software solutions are often reinventing existing wheels. In this short paper, we revisit the design of our environmental sensing node that has been monitoring industrial areas over a span of two years. We share our findings and lessons learned. Based on this, we outline how a new generation of sensing node(s) can look like. T2 - SMSI 2023 Conference Sensor and Measurement Science International CY - Nuremberg, Germany DA - 08.05.2023 KW - Sensing node KW - Sensor network KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Low-cost KW - LoRaWAN PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57455 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. T1 - DeepGDM: Deep Learning for Gas Distribution Mapping N2 - Gas distribution mapping (GDM) is a valuable tool for monitoring the distribution of gases in various applications, including environmental monitoring, emergency response, and industrial safety. While GDM is actively researched in the scope of gas-sensitive mobile robots (Mobile Robot Olfaction), there is a potential for broader applications utilizing sensor networks. This presentation gives an overview of the different approaches to GDM and motivate the use of a deep-neural network-based approach. As access to ground truth representations of gas distributions remains a challenge in GDM research, an approach for the simulation of realistic-shaped synthetic gas plumes is described, which was used for training Gas Distribution Decoder, a deep neural network for spatial interpolation of spatially sparse gas measurements. T2 - AASS Seminar CY - Örebro, Sweden DA - 08.06.2023 KW - Deep learning KW - Mobile robot olfaction KW - Environmental monitoring PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57635 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Schaffernicht, E. A1 - Lilienthal, A. J. T1 - Using Redundancy in a Sensor Network to Compensate Sensor Failures N2 - Wireless sensor networks provide occupational health experts with valuable information about the distribution of air pollutants in an environment. However, especially low-cost sensors may produce faulty measurements or fail completely. Consequently, not only spatial coverage but also redundancy should be a design criterion for the deployment of a sensor network. For a sensor network deployed in a steel factory, we analyze the correlations between sensors and build machine learning forecasting models, to investigate how well the sensor network can compensate for the outage of sensors. While our results show promising prediction quality of the models, they also indicate the presence of spatially very limited events. We, therefore, conclude that initial measurements with, e.g., mobile units, could help to identify important locations to design redundant sensor networks. T2 - IEEE SENSORS 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 31.10.2021 KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Wireless sensor network KW - Sensor placement KW - Machine learning PY - 2021 SN - 978-1-7281-9501-8 DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/sensors47087.2021.9639479 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - IEEE AN - OPUS4-53939 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. T1 - Using Redundancy in a Sensor Network to Compensate Sensor Failures N2 - Sensors can fail. Redundancy should therefore be a design driver of wireless sensor networks. For a sensor network deployed in a steel factory, we analyze the correlations between sensors and build machine learning forecasting models, to investigate how well the network can compensate for the outage of sensors. T2 - IEEE SENSORS 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 31.10.2021 KW - Environmental monitoring KW - Wireless sensor network KW - Sensor placement KW - Machine learning PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53940 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. A1 - Neumann, Patrick P. A1 - Kohlhoff, Harald A1 - Erdmann, Jessica A1 - Schaffernicht, Erik A1 - Lilienthal, Achim J. T1 - Development of a Low-Cost Sensing Node with Active Ventilation Fan for Air Pollution Monitoring N2 - A fully designed low-cost sensing node for air pollution monitoring and calibration results for several low-cost gas sensors are presented. As the state of the art is lacking information on the importance of an active ventilation system, the effect of an active fan is compared to the passive ventilation of a lamellar structured casing. Measurements obtained in an urban outdoor environment show that readings of the low-cost dust sensor (Sharp GP2Y1010AU0F) are distorted by the active ventilation system. While this behavior requires further research, a correlation with temperature and humidity inside the node shown. T2 - SMSI 2021 Conference: Sensor and Measurement Science International CY - Online meeting DA - 03.05.2021 KW - Wireless sensing node KW - Air pollution KW - Sensor network KW - Environmental monitoring PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.5162/SMSI2021/D3.5 VL - 2021 SP - 260 EP - 261 AN - OPUS4-52607 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Winkler, Nicolas P. T1 - Development of a Low-Cost Sensing Node with Active Ventilation Fan for Air Pollution Monitoring N2 - A fully designed low-cost sensing node for air pollution monitoring and calibration results for several low-cost gas sensors are presented. As the state of the art is lacking information on the importance of an active ventilation system, the effect of an active fan is compared to the passive ventilation of a lamellar structured casing. Measurements obtained in an urban outdoor environment show that readings of the low-cost dust sensor (Sharp GP2Y1010AU0F) are distorted by the active ventilation system. While this behavior requires further research, a correlation with temperature and humidity inside the node shown. T2 - SMSI 2021 Conference: Sensor and Measurement Science International CY - Online meeting DA - 03.05.2021 KW - Wireless sensing node KW - Air pollution KW - Environmental monitoring PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52609 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -