LENS Project

Monitor noise and nanoparticle emissions of two-wheelers

Cities, regulators, and enforcement officials need support in finding ways to reduce noise and air pollution generated by motorcycles and mopeds, i.e. L-category vehicles (LVs). The EU-funded LENS project will apply techniques to monitor LVs’ noise and emissions, provide recommendations on how to control the contribution of current and future LVs, examine emissions and noise performance under real driving conditions and deploy methods to identify tampered vehicles. LENS will conduct detailed pollutant and noise characterization to more than 150 vehicles in the lab and on the road and will demonstrate the impacts of LENS recommendations in 3 case studies at different spatial and temporal resolutions. LENS output will be tools and methods for less noise and better air in cities.

Objective

LENS is a project aiming at assisting enforcement authorities, cities and regulators to decrease the contribution of L-category vehicles (LVs: mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadri-mobiles) to noise and air-pollution. This is achieved by developing and promoting interventions and best practices that can address the noise and pollutant emissions of current fleet vehicles and by making suggestions for regulations to improve the performance of future vehicles. Interventions for the current fleet range from vehicle measures (speed limiters, digital sealing) to infrastructure (traffic calming and restrictions), tampering detection and anti-tampering enforcement and smart apps that guide riders to adopt more environmentally and less noisy riding slides. Suggestions for regulations include the control of emissions under real driving conditions and the regulatory enforcement of anti-tampering measures. The expected impact of these measures will be demonstrated by simulations in three actual case studies in locations which are negatively impacted by the operation of LVs. An extensive test programme of noise and pollutant emissions on more than 150 LVs is proposed - including on-board, on-track and in-lab tests – to collect the necessary performance data. Portable sensor-based and mini-analyser measurement systems are being developed in the project to characterise gaseous and particulate pollutants, including nanoparticles down to 2.5 nm under actual operation conditions. A new technique based on the remote detection of gaseous emissions, nanoparticles and sound levels of singular vehicles on the road is being proposed with the aim to detect worst noise and emission LVs, including tampered ones. The technique will be deployed in 3 real-world campaigns with the intention to sample more than 3,000 LVs on the road. A smart app will be enhanced with project findings to assist riders adopt a more city-friendly riding style in terms of noise and emissions.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement number 101056777.