Trends and paradigms in the development of miniaturized sensors for environmental monitoring

Sensors, being the interface between the physical world and the information processing domain, are fostering the affirmation and consolidation of Internet-of-Everything scenarios. Among different application areas, urban and rural environmental monitoring poses peculiar and demanding challenges, here discussed. The principal design paradigms for the deployment of environmental sensors in pervasive wireless networks are reviewed. Miniaturization, monolithic integration, robustness, reliability, self-diagnostics, energetic autonomy and data fusion are among the prominent trends. These aspects are highlighted in three recent sample projects, where innovative impedance-based sensors are proposed, spanning from air quality mapping to oceans and drinking water monitoring.