CARE-C awarded INHALE project to Improve Urban Air Quality Monitoring
The Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) of the Cyprus Institute has secured funding from the Cyprus’s Research & Innovation Foundation (RIF) for the new project INHALE (INtegrated Hybrid system for AI-enhanced Local air quality Evaluation). INHALE aims to address urban air pollution by developing a hybrid, AI-enhanced system for street-level air quality assessment, supporting municipalities and public health authorities in data-driven decision-making.
Urban air pollution remains a major public health and environmental challenge, contribution to respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease and premature mortality. Conventional air quality monitoring approaches are either reliable but very expensive to deploy and maintain, and also provide limited spatial variability, or low-cost solutions that can provide enhanced spatial coverage but are not as reliable as the reference stations and need constant calibration. Moreover, policymakers and city planners frequently lack access to high-resolution exposure data necessary for targeted street-level interventions. The INHALE project addresses this gap by developing and validating a hybrid, AI-enhanced system for urban air quality assessment.
The main objective of the project is to generate accurate, street-level air pollution exposure maps for key pollutants linked with vehicular activity such as CO, NOx and PM in urban environments, starting with Nicosia, to provide site-specific reference for calibration to low-cost air quality sensors. INHALE’s key innovation lies in fusing cost-effective measurements, high-resolution air quality modelling and AI into a scalable, modular framework that corrects sensor biases in situ, enhances data reliability, and supports data-driven decision-making for municipalities and public health authorities. The project sets the foundation for next-generation air quality management systems aligned with Smart City strategies.
The key outputs of INHALE include a transferable methodology for street-scale air quality monitoring, validated AI calibration models, and a demonstrator study showcasing the system’s application in Nicosia. This innovative framework will inform urban air quality management, support data-driven decision making and contribute to Cyprus’s Smart City and environmental sustainability strategies. By bridging gaps in monitoring accuracy and spatial coverage, INHALE aims to empower municipalities with cost-effective, scientifically robust tools to protect public health and enhance urban resilience.
The figure shows the key methods in the INHALE framework for developing a hybrid air quality monitoring system by combining low-cost observations, air quality modelling, and AI into a scalable approach for urban air quality assessment.
The project began on 1 March 2026, and it is expected to end on 30 November 2026. It is led by CARE-C’s Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr. Giannis Ioannides.
INHALE is funded the Republic of Cyprus through the Research and Innovation Foundation.
